


Prying Eyes

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Arguing, Boyfriends, Bullying, Caught, Chaptered, Childhood, Epilogue, Explanations, Father-Son Relationship, First Kiss, First Meetings, Flashbacks, Friendship, Happy Ending, Kissing, M/M, Masturbation, Multi, Prying Eyes, Rape, Resolution, Revelations, Sexual Confusion, Sleepovers, Sneaking Around, Teenagers, aka that fic I wrote ages ago that I kind of hate now, innocent!harry, insecure!louis, mentions of liam/danielle, obsessed!harry, possibly triggering so be warned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-26
Updated: 2013-04-01
Packaged: 2017-11-26 23:28:00
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 30,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/655557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…<i></i></i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prying Eyes Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was the first chaptered fic I ever wrote! I posted it all on Tumblr ages ago, but I want to post it here too because I love this site and want to see what you guys think of it :) Please be gentle, as some of this makes me cringe a LOT, but I hope you enjoy it!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

There was a dot on the horizon, a slight mar in a sky of perfect blue. It might have been a bird, or a plane, or even a spaceship as it moved across the cornflower sea at a slow, lazy pace. A tanned finger traced its path through the air, both shimmering slightly in the summer haze.

“Louis!” The young man sighed, turning his head to see the tall, stocky man behind him carrying a suitcase in each hand and with an irritated, slightly bemused expression on his face.

“What?” he asked annoyed that his peace had been shattered and Liam held out one of the bags to him in reply. Sighing, he heaved himself up from the ground, grabbed it from the other man’s grasp and nearly fell over from the weight of it. Laughing the brown-eyed 40 year old reached out a hand to catch him. Louis flinched involuntarily from the contact and took a step backwards. The man’s arm dropped slowly as he started to speak.

“Louis, I’m sorry –” But the teenager had already turned away, dragging the bag with him, and begun to climb the steps to the back door of his new home.  
*

Later on, when the unpacking was done, they sat together at the kitchen table that had come as part and parcel of the rented house, drinking mugs of tea. The incident earlier hung in the air like a bad smell and the silence became more awkward as it deepened. Liam decided to try for small talk, anything to break the hush.

“It’s nice, isn’t it?” he asked, hoping for a response, but all the younger man did was nod. “There wasn’t anything like this in Doncaster, eh?” he was getting desperate yet there was still no response. “Lou!” The boy, for at 17 he really wasn’t much more than an adolescent, looked up then, startled at the sudden change of tone. Liam sighed, glad he had now got his attention and determined to stay calm. “Let’s try and make this work, yeah?” He almost expected Louis to turn away or drop his gaze but he continued to stare at him placidly with his deep blue eyes. “This is going to be a fresh start, so we’ve got to both be willing to embrace change. I know it won’t be easy but can we agree to try and begin again?” He reached a pale yet muscular arm out across the table, palm outstretched. The other man looked at it for a moment before half-smiling and extending his own, more tanned, hand out to shake it.

“OK, Li –” he began and noticed the older man wince slightly. “Dad,” he corrected himself. “OK, dad. It’s a deal.”

*

That night Louis hung a picture of his mother on the wall by his bed and kissed her goodnight. Her smiling blue eyes, identical to his, looked down on him as he lay wrapped in his own thoughts. He couldn’t remember one day in the last 14 years when he hadn’t slept under her gaze – he’d always brought her picture along to sleepovers and Scout camps when he was younger, and if hanging it up was a problem then he would tuck her under his pillow so they were still close. Liam sometimes worried that his son was becoming obsessed with Danielle, but intervening would have made him a hypocrite as he hadn’t been able to let her go either. Louis heard him talking to her sometimes when he thought no one was listening. They’d both never really got over her death, as much as they pretended that it was all in the past. The young man knew there was a reason his father hadn’t dated anyone since despite the loneliness that must come from being a single widowed parent. And he was grateful that he took his son’s thoughts into consideration so much, he really was. But that didn’t make up for those 2 years that had followed his mum’s death…

*

“Don’t think about it,” he whispered into the darkness but he could feel the panic rising up within him. He attempted to use the thought blocking techniques that psychologist had taught him and began muttering repeated sentences to himself. “I’m not there anymore. I never have to go back. I’m safe here. I’m not there anymore.” However it was to no prevail and soon he could no longer speak as his breathing became fast and erratic and images started playing through his mind. “No!” he yelled and within seconds Liam was there, by his bedside.

“Hey, hey,” he whispered soothingly, picking up a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from Louis’ brow. “It’s OK Lou. I’m here. No one’s going to hurt you now.” The younger man started to calm down and looked up at his father gratefully. He was too exhausted from his panic attack to say anything but instead reached up to touch his dad’s face gently. Liam did the same to his son and they stayed there for a moment knowing that this might be the closest they would ever come to an embrace. “I love you, son,” he said and for once Louis didn’t grimace but just nodded. And with that Liam walked out of the room, leaving his son to fall into a deep sleep.

*

Louis was walking through a garden of flowers, their sweet smell saturating the air. The grass was wet under his feet and the sound of birds drifted overhead. He tried to turn his head to see what was on either side of him, but his body wouldn’t let him. Instead the young man just kept walking, to what he could now see was a small, fast-flowing river. Stood beside it, with her back to him, was his mother. He knew her well enough from the photos his father had kept dotted around their old house to recognise her frizzy brown hair and tanned skin. He knew this dream off by heart, too. It was like that movie you’ve seen a million times, that song you know every word to, and sure enough Danielle was turning to hold out a small bundle. He knew it was pointless, that it would all be over soon, but he still continued walking. Picking up the lightweight swathe of blankets, he looked down and

Louis woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It gets better. I promise ;) And, yeah, the chapters are short, and just to warn you, this fic has a lot of badly written angst in it, with mentions of rape and depression in later chapters... But *SPOILER ALERT* there's side Ziam later too to make up for it!


	2. Prying Eyes Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, er, yeah, Louis and Harry are both quite strange characters in this fic tbh. But hopefully you can see past that until the atual story line kicks in because it all comes into play eventually... sort of ;)

Harry knew lots of things about the world. He could speak fluent Russian, tell you how to cure tetanus and recite the whole of the periodic table. What he didn’t know was how to make friends, and that was because he’d never had any. Well, that wasn’t entirely true, he remembered one boy back in Reception who he’d been mates with – Niall, was he called? But apart from that, ever since he had refused to go to school aged 5 Harry had never really had the opportunity to interact with other children, let alone make friends. His mother had tried to get him to attend friend’s children’s birthday parties or join a club but her son preferred his own company to that of others. And she could hardly complain when otherwise she appeared to have the perfect child. He was academically gifted, good natured and had a talent for singing which he refused to share with anyone but his shower head. Anne often castigated herself for wishing he was as adventurous as other boys his age and less shy; she expected he would come out of his shell as he matured but at 14 he seemed more introverted than ever.

*

The curly haired boy spent his days doing schoolwork, writing what he considered to be dire poetry and researching subjects that took his fancy on the internet. Recently, however, much of Harry’s time had been spent simply looking out of the window of his spacious room to observe the world going on below. His keen eye took in everything and noticed all the imperceptibly small changes to the suburban landscape that would be unnoticeable to anyone who hadn’t been observing for as long as him. When the ‘To Let’ sign had gone up across the road in March he’d spotted it instantly, and had carefully spied on every group of visitors who came to view the house. None of them seemed particularly interesting (although that didn’t stop him from recording every detail of their appearance and nature in his precious midnight blue notebook) until that boy had appeared. It had just been another June day: he’d finished his Latin homework, refused to go outside in the sun with his mother and was sitting at the window thinking about nothing. Then the car, a battered old Volkswagen Beetle, had drawn up in front of number 15 and caught his interest. He picked up a pen hurriedly in order to jot down what he could see of the latest viewers, but the nib never quite reached the paper.

*

He was the most perfect human being Harry had ever seen. Despite the heat of the day he was wrapped up in a hoodie and jeans but he walked with an almost effeminate grace, like a ballet dancer. Chestnut brown hair was styled into feathery tufts at his forehead and his skin – what could be seen of it – was beautifully golden. The young man looked around him nervously and for the first time Harry was captivated by his twinkling azure eyes. They never caught his own green pair which he knew he should be relieved about as he would be mortified if anyone found out about his nosiness, but in reality made him yearn for the boy to turn back again. He didn’t. Instead the teenager followed a tall man who the younger boy guessed to be his father through the neatly kept garden and into the house. As soon as he arrived the youth had gone leaving Harry to try and recollect his thoughts.

*

The teenager realised he’d inadvertently dropped his pen whilst he’d been gazing – no, observing he corrected himself. He wasn’t the type to stare, but that boy had been… fascinating. There was no other way of putting it. Harry had been fascinated by his features, his gait and especially his eyes. Those turquoise orbs glimmering in the sun had been truly beautiful. But then he shook himself, trying to restore some normality into the situation. What was he thinking? He didn’t even know this random stranger who, after he’d left in his faded red automobile, was unlikely to ever cross paths with him again. The logical side of Harry’s brain had always been dominant over his imagination and it was that which caused the fear to begin to rise within him. He had no idea what had triggered the emotions he’d just felt and it scared him that he was experiencing feelings he didn’t even have a name for. It was as though with one glance the young man across the road had turned his mind to mush and his insides to melted chocolate. If Harry had spent more time with other children his age he would probably have realised what these feelings meant to his peers, but as it was he was alone, inexperienced and very confused. All he wanted to do was block it out, yet his brain kept conjuring up the image of the other boy getting out of the car and standing there on the pavement. It was too much for him to cope with so in a mad rush of anxiety he pulled the curtains shut and then curled up in a ball on his chair, singing softly to calm his nerves. Whatever it was that had happened to the fourteen year old he didn’t want to know about it and was determined to forget the incident as soon as possible.

*

And forget it he did, or as near as possible, over the next few weeks as he filled his time helping his mother in the house and playing computer games that separated him from the real world for hours at a time. Anne was delighted that her son was willing to make more of an effort with her, and the idle chatter that she kept going with him was another welcome opportunity for distraction. Harry refused to think about the boy (who he still didn’t even know the name of), but every now and then something would force him to break that vow. Maybe he’s see an advert featuring a red car, or a boy in a hooded jacket walking down the street and it would all come flooding back. Still, he mostly managed to keep the emotions he had felt at bay so that he wouldn’t have to confront them. That was, until the 7th of August when a white removal had parked outside that house. As his heart began to flutter against his will he told himself to calm down. It was probably a totally different set of people moving in. He had deliberately not asked his mother who had rented Mrs Jones’ old house but there was no way that it was them who had taken it. It was a hundred different shades of impossible. Then the young man stepped out of the van and Harry, without realising, fell in love again.


	3. Prying Eyes Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Um, this chapter is a bit shit. Like all the others. Yay.

For a whole week Louis didn’t have nightmares. There was something about the new area that comforted him – the suburban feel of the leafy streets offered a sort of protection from the world he had come there to escape from. He liked his new room at the back of the house with its plain beige walls, he liked his new neighbours who had asked too many awkward questions about where they’d come from and why, he especially liked the garden with its tall privet hedges and beautiful flowers. It had only been a few days but already he was starting to feel comfortable. The new setting seemed to be having a similar effect on Liam, too, as he had stopped worrying as much about his son’s whereabouts and was beginning to relax. Everything seemed not exactly perfect, but normal, and that was something Louis had been craving for longer than he could remember. Yet at the same time in the back of his head a voice kept telling him that it was all a trick, that this was simply the calm before the inevitable storm. Though he tried to ignore his pessimistic thoughts they still played on Louis’ mind, and it was on the Sunday night before he was due to start his new school that they came to a head in the form of another night terror.

*

He couldn’t even remember the details when he woke up screaming and drenched in sweat, only that Liam was there too, trying to comfort him. But he was way too far past the edge of his sanity to be calmed down by his father’s presence, and unthinkingly the older man reached over and held his son tightly. The distraught boy yelled in protest and attempted to wriggle away, but he wouldn’t let go and continued to whisper soothingly in Louis’ ear. The screams turned to sobs, and then just to sniffling sighs as the anger and anxiety passed from his mind. The actions had left him exhausted, however, and he fell asleep without warning in his dad’s arms. The 40 year old laid him down in bed, where he lay until the sun streamed through the curtains the next morning.

*

Liam drove the teenager to school on Monday in awkward silence. Louis was a bag of nerves, but it was clear that he didn’t want to talk about the night before. As the Beetle drew up outside the imposing steel gates the other man turned to him, concern written all over his face.

“Look, son,” he began, and Louis sighed as he realised he was going to have to endure a lecture in the car. “No, hang on,” Liam stopped him, “I promise I won’t go on too long. I just want you to know that I want you to be happy. And you should be positive about this new school, and all the opportunities it brings.” During his mini-speech the younger man had been sneakily undoing his seatbelt and reaching for his satchel. He didn’t want to hear this all again.

“I know, dad!” his smile was obviously fake, but he was already opening the door in an attempt to escape. Just as he rose up from his seat, Liam reached out an arm to stop him. He paused just before he touched the young man but Louis could feel the heat of his hand, inches away from him. Turning slightly, he lifted his eyes to meet the brown pools of his father.

“I love you, son,” he told him carefully, his voice nearly cracking at the end. The boy nodded, taken aback by the sudden heaviness of the situation.

“I love you too, dad,” he whispered, and slowly made his way out of the vehicle.

*

Louis’ new form tutor was a lively, good-looking man who only seemed to be a couple of years older than his students.

“Morning, class,” he smiled brightly at them, “I’m Mr Malik, and welcome to year 13!” The rest of the pupils in the room all deemed to know each other, so the 17 year old felt quite left out as he sat on his own at the back. After his opening talk the teacher realised he had a new student in the class and attempted to rectify the situation by putting Louis next to a hyperactive Irish boy named Niall. He hadn’t expected to make friends on the first day, but the two boys clicked straight away and by lunchtime they were chatting away like old pals. He wouldn’t say he wasn’t genuinely himself at school, but he had certainly slipped into his usual funny, cheeky persona as soon as he’d walked through the doors. For although he wanted to finally be himself there in Cheshire he still wasn’t ready to let his peers know the real him. Moving on was one thing, but Louis couldn’t afford to be careless.

“So are you doing ought this evening?” Niall’s voice interrupted his thoughts and he looked up with a start.

“What?” he asked, confusedly, and the blonde boy laughed.

“Too boring for you to bother listening am I, Tomlinson?” The other boy smiled sheepishly, but he knew he was joking. “Anyway, I was wondering if you wanted to come back to mine after school? There’s food and we can play football if you’re any good.” Louis paused for a moment, weighing the offer up. It seemed like such a long time since he had been in anyone else’s house, but it wasn’t like his new friend was going to hurt him. Sighing inwardly at his own inhibitions he nodded.

“Sure,” he smiled. “Sounds fun!”

*

Niall lived on the other side of the school, but Louis had already sent a text to his dad to confirm everything was fine so he enjoyed the 10 minute walk with his new friend. He hadn’t been able to judge much of the social hierarchy at the comprehensive in one day, but as far as he could tell the blonde boy was sort of middling. His friendly character made him popular with everyone but too nice to join the leading group in the year, and he didn’t really seem to mind who he was mates with. His other friends had also all accepted Louis willingly, and he was surprised at how easy it had been for him to find a place in his new environment. When they arrived at the house Niall’s mother was there to greet them and served up glasses of orange juice and biscuits for the boys. The Irish teen seemed embarrassed by her mothering, but the other young man found it rather enjoyable. She reminded him of his mother, or how he’d always imagined her to be. He even felt himself tearing up a little, but quickly swallowed down the lump in his throat knowing how odd it would look if he started crying in front of his friend. Instead, the two lads headed out into the garden to kick a ball around for a few hours. It was only when they came back indoors that Louis realised what he was feeling. It was something quite near happiness.


	4. Prying Eyes Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna stop leaving notes on chapters now... :)

There was nothing strange about Harry’s presence at his bedroom window. It was now where he spent most of his free time, watching the rest of the world from the little bubble that was his. Whilst he was doing homework he would sometimes get distracted: his brain would drift and his eyes would always end up looking at the street below. And that, he’d decided, had nothing to do with the mystery boy across the road. His ridiculously good looking neighbour was not the reason he was sat there at 3.30 scanning the faces of the children walking home. No, that was simply because it was the first day back at school for them and he was interested to know what their reactions were to that. For someone who never interacted socially with his peers, Harry was a remarkable judge of facial expressions. And, yes, in the back of his mind maybe he was wondering when that particular teenager would stroll gracefully round the corner, but that wasn’t the reason for his vigil at all.

*

It had been a week since the father and son had moved in at number 15, and in that time Harry had deliberately avoided talking about them to his mother. When she’d mentioned their arrival he had put on an air of indifference, and refused to go visit the house with Anne’s home-made housewarming biscuits under the pretext that he needed to complete his Science homework. It was a complete lie but she willingly agreed to his absence. In fact, the moment his mum had left the house the boy had run up to his bedroom to watch her walk across the street and ring the doorbell. Without even realising, he held his breath, hoping that he would catch another glimpse of the older teen. The door opened slowly and the tall, brown eyed man stood there in the entrance. Harry sighed and turned away, feeling far more disappointed than he knew was reasonable. When his mother came home he ignored her until tea when they sat together in comfortable silence.

“Our new neighbours seem nice, Haz,” she told him and he murmured in response. “The man, Liam, he used to be a professional footballer, you know! He runs an online business now…” The young man listened to her ramble on without taking much in. He didn’t want to talk about this subject with his mother – it felt almost private, like he didn’t want her to have anything to do with them. If observing that boy was his new social experiment then Anne was contaminating the evidence. “

*

And he’s got a son,” Harry’s ears pricked up. She may have been interfering, but his mother could certainly make up for that with new information. “He’s a few years older than you.” The woman went back to eating, but didn’t appear as though she had any more to say. The lad cursed his luck as he knew he would now have to speak up about it.

“What,” he began then swallowed.

“Sorry dear, I didn’t hear that,” she smiled and he took a deep breath.

“What’s he called?” To Harry’s mind this sounded like a ridiculously probing question; he was certain his intentions would easily be guessed.

“Liam’s son?” asked his mother and he nodded ever so slowly. “He’s called Louis, I think. I only met him briefly.” But her child wasn’t listening any more. _Louis_. It was perfect

*

Harry snapped out of his reminiscing with a start and realised the pavement below was almost completely empty save for a young woman with a pram. Glancing up at the clock he realised it was already quarter past four. He wondered for one heart-stopping moment if he might have missed Louis, but then realised that number 15’s gate was still padlocked shut. Confused, he checked up and down the street once again, looking for the teenager who, despite his inward protestations, was the cause for his observations. His heart started to beat faster as he ran through all the possibilities of where his neighbour could be. Although he wasn’t even sure why he felt such a connection to the older boy, the fourteen year old couldn’t help but panic over his absence. It was as though from just a few glances he had developed a one-way bond with Louis, but he wasn’t sure what the exact nature of it was yet. He knew it was silly to obsess about a relative stranger like that, however Harry didn’t think there was much that could be done about it. At night he would lie awake and think about the other young man, which did strange things to his body that he didn’t understand. The home-school syllabus that he’d been following for 9 years didn’t cover Sex Education and the reactions he got from dreaming about Louis were new and frightening. He would have been suffering multiple panic attacks from the worry that he wasn’t normal if it wasn’t for the fact that the teenager made him feel so good. He didn’t know what was happening to him, but one thing was certain: there was no way he could stop now.

*

But that seemed irrelevant compared to the pressing dilemma of Louis’ whereabouts. The boy was nowhere to be seen, and it was all Harry could do to stop himself imagining the worst-case scenarios of what could be happening to him. In an attempt to calm himself he decided to wait another half an hour and see if the teenager arrived from around the corner. However 5 came and went and there was still no sign of the familiar feathered fringe and crystal blue eyes. The younger man was panicking beyond belief, but what could he do? As much as he might wish otherwise sometimes he was still a child without the ability to track down a missing person! The only thing he had the power to do was sit and wait until Louis came home. So that’s what he did. His iPod played Coldplay softly in the background while he waited, alone and vigilant, refusing to eat even when his mother called him for tea. It was ridiculous, but he knew he wouldn’t sleep until he was sure that his neighbour was safe. Liam’s car drove up after about an hour, and the unconcerned look on his face reassured the curly haired lad that nothing dreadful could have happened, but still he kept watching. And then, and around half past six, he saw him, running for his life it appeared down the street. Even from that distance Harry could tell the other boy was crying which, although he was in no physical pain himself, felt like a knife to his heart. Louis stopped outside the, now unlocked, gate to dry his eyes with the sleeves of his hoodie and the observer marvelled at his extraordinary beauty even under the circumstances. As he gazed longingly at the elder boy’s tanned face the latter looked up suddenly. Their eyes met in a clash of blue and green that lasted just a second but was enough to set Harry’s insides on fire. The azure orbs were full of sorrow and confusion, and he quickly turned to make his way into the house, leaving the other teen more love struck than ever.


	5. Prying Eyes Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

_You’re so fucking stupid_. Louis’ thoughts castigated him as he ran down unknown streets in an attempt to find his way home. _You fucking idiot_. He was lost and confused and it was all his own fault, no matter how much he tried to persuade himself otherwise. He was just such a fucked up emotional wreck that he’d ruined what was possibly the only friendship he was likely to experience over a tiny incident. Why had he even thought things were different already, that he could just waltz around like a normal human being? That had been proved totally wrong just ten minutes ago and he was certain he would now never live it down. Niall wouldn’t want to know him after the way he’d reacted and in front of his whole family too. His past was always going to catch up with him wherever he went and there was nothing he could do about it.

*

It had all been going so well: he’d had a great time at Niall’s house and the two had gotten along like a house on fire. The slightly older boy had asked if he wanted to stay for dinner and he’d happily agreed. He enjoyed the atmosphere in the Horan household – it exuded the sort of friendly, relaxed feeling that seemed nearly impossible in Louis’ home. And then the Irish boy just had to go and ruin it by creeping up behind him and squeezing his sides to make him jump. At least, that’s what would have happened if the feathery haired young man hadn’t suddenly had a terrible flashback from the contact. His mind went dark and there was a different pair of hands grabbing him and not letting him go even when he yelled for help that never came… He shrieked and leapt a mile across the kitchen which prompted Niall’s mum and brother to run it and check that nobody was dying. However Louis didn’t even care what they saw in him because he was too busy scrambling around on the floor for his satchel.

“What’s wrong?” asked the other teenager hoarsely, sounding a little scared. Well of course he did; his new friend was acting like a maniac! “Lou, what’s the matter?” By this time the spooked guest had found his bag and was nearly at the door. He spun around, eyes wild and pleading.

“I’m sorry,” he managed to stutter. “I – I’ve just got to go…” And with that he sprinted out into the warm September evening.

*

So that was why Louis now found himself running blindly down backstreets in order to distance himself from the house and the memories. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid to have over reacted in such a way, and he kept on admonishing himself as he gradually got more and more out of breath. Niall’s half-petrified face kept appearing in his face which sent spasms of guilt through the young man’s body, but then it would morph into the dark shadowy figure he wanted to forget. He was completely lost both physically and metaphorically, until by sheer coincidence he found himself turning off a side road and onto the long, winding street he knew to be his new home. Still galloping along at a ferocious pace despite the stitch in his side and the screaming for oxygen that his muscles were doing the teenager made his way along the pavement until he reached his front gate. Only then did he stop, bent double from his journey, and realise he was crying. Louis wasn’t sure whether the tears had been brought on by the strain of his running or the fact that he had just ruined one of the best evenings he’d had in months with his emotional insecurities, but either way he ground his palms into his eyes angrily in order to stop the flow of salty water. He felt as though he had no right to be upset when he had caused the misery himself.

“Get a grip,” he whispered aloud, looking up to the sky that was streaked with amber from the slowly setting sun. But his sweeping gaze was stopped halfway as his eyes were caught by a pair of glimmering deep green orbs that captivated him.

*

Louis didn’t know any of his new neighbours particularly well – a couple had come over with housewarming gifts on their first days in the area which he had thought was a little odd, but Liam had explained that this was the sort of place where everyone knew each other. This quite middle-class well to do neighbourhood seemed to be full of old people and nuclear families, and he hadn’t seen anyone his own age around. But now there was a boy (well, a teenager) at the window of the house opposite, staring soulfully at the other teenager. The light was too bad for Louis to make out a full figure, just what looked like a mop of curls and abnormally pale skin. As a sudden chill breeze cut through his thin jacket he turned away and took the last few steps to his front door, trying his best to ignore the feelings rushing through his brain. There were more important matters at hand, such as trying to convince Liam that there was no way he could possibly go into school the next day. If his father was suspicious about the early arrival home of the young man then he didn’t show it. He knew better than to probe into his son’s business so instead served up beans on toast which they ate in front of the TV in an almost expectant silence.

“Dad,” he said suddenly, knowing that his use of the familial term would gain him some points in the older man’s good books. “Can I have the day off tomorrow?” He winced at his own choice of vocabulary: what had happened to being subtle?

“What happened?” asked Liam gently but Louis dropped his head, avoiding his father’s gaze.

“I screwed up, OK?” he muttered still not looking up at the paler man’s probing brown eyes. “I can’t go back in.” The 40 year old smiled sadly, reaching over to pick up the young man’s now empty plate.

“One day,” he said. “Then you’ve got to go back.”

*

Louis’ mind was in utter turmoil for the whole of Tuesday. He was so busy worrying about what Niall would say the next day when he returned for school that he utterly forgot about the boy with the green eyes at the window. He was certain his only friend wouldn’t want to know him after the rudeness he had displayed at his home, and he had no way of explaining his issues to the other boy without revealing all the things about his past that he was trying to forget. After his dad had gone off to his office in the town centre the young man mooched around the house thinking up mad schemes that would get him out of the inevitable confrontation. The phone ringing at about 4 almost made him jump out of his skin, and it had almost gone to answer-machine before he had recovered enough to pick it up.

“Hello?” he asked tentatively, wondering who in the world would be calling at this time of day.

“Hey man!” A thick Irish accent bellowed through the receiver which Louis held at arm’s length as a knee-jerk reaction. When he placed it back to his ear Niall was still jabbering away but in a much more serious tone of voice. “…look, Tommo, I don’t know what happened yesterday but I figure it’s none of my business, right? So I just wanted to know if we’re still cool or if I need to apologise or summat?” The younger boy’s heart was jumping for joy as he heard the rambling from the other end of the line. Maybe, just maybe, he hadn’t lost his friend after all!

“Niall!” he interrupted, laughing a little. “I’m the one who’s sorry. I totally over reacted and, yeah, it was stupid of me.”

“Doesn’t matter mate!” was the reply, followed by a bit of banter about school and then they hung up, Louis feeling significantly better. He collapsed into bed that evening after staying up far too late playing his X-Box and fell into a peaceful sleep immediately.

*

Louis was walking through a garden of flowers that he knew only too well. He could predict exactly what would happen next, but he still never wanted the dream to end because it was the one time he got to see his mother outside of a photograph. As he approached the woman, who never aged despite the 14 years that had passed since her death, he wished his father was more willing to talk about her. It was the one subject they never addressed because the teenager was scared that it might bring back painful emotions for his dad. His brain carried on thinking about this topic before he realised that something was wrong. His mother was holding out the small bundle in her arms but the dream wasn’t over. In fact, as he picked up the package of blankets that he’d never before seen the contents of Danielle smiled encouragingly at him. Looking down he expected to wake up any second but his eyes kept travelling past the beautiful white dress his mum was wearing until the young man could see the baby resting against his forearm. It was pale with dark curly hair, but what shocked Louis were the eyes that peered up at him with childish innocence. They were exactly the deep shade of emerald green that he remembered only too well

Louis woke up


	6. Prying Eyes Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

Harry would never forget his first day at school. For 4 years he had been a perfectly normal, happy boy: he loved music and football and had been popular at his private nursery. But when Anne had lost her job a few months before his premiere scholastic year was due to begin she knew her dreams of sending him to a public school had been dashed. In her mind this was actually a positive thing, after all the idea of having to pay for primary education was outdated and elitist to be perfectly honest, but in reality it would turn into her biggest ever regret. Unfortunately, as a result of the last-minute nature of her redundancy she was forced to get him enrolled at the only school which still had places left: the notoriously rough Shaleton Primary. But his mother was determined not to worry about the effect that his education there might have on their family, because the connotations it raised were in her eyes the views of the prejudiced middle class mother she’d never wanted to become. So it was with little trepidation that she handed him over to his new teacher (a smiley young woman by the name of Miss Hutchinson) and waved goodbye on the 2nd of September when the school year began. Little did she know she has every right to be worried for her son’s wellbeing.

*

The day didn’t get off to the most auspicious start when Harry realised he was pretty much the only pupil in the class who didn’t live in the estate across the road from the school. This, along with his clipped accent and smart clothes, instantly singled him out as different from the other children which, as is often the case with young people, provoked a group of lads to begin harassing him. Despite all of them being only 4 years old they knew how to intimidate and antagonise the small, rather pale child without alerting the attention of the teacher. Being such a nice boy he refused to sink to their level and tried to ignore the teasing but it still persisted. Harry was confused as to what exactly he had done to encourage his peers to humiliate him, but as the gentle ribbing turned to all out bullying he had no idea how to defend himself against the pokes and prods. For the rest of his few years he had always been popular with other children yet evidently his sweet caring nature was not going to be appreciated in this environment. He grew more and more miserable and it was with relief that he ran out into the playground at break. However with no friends to join he had to simply take a place at one of the plastic benches near the wall by himself.

*

As he wondered why the event he’d been looking forward to for so long had turned sour already, a much bigger blonde boy came over to where he sat on his own, and introduced himself smiling.

“Hey I’m Niall,” Harry glanced up at him, unsure as to whether he was being serious or this was another wind up. Why on earth would this older pupil want anything to do with him? Although he was not old enough or in much of a position to have examined the social demographic of the school it was clear enough that children in the same year interacted with each other and that was it. It was therefore rather suspicious to him that this student was willing to communicate with him. But the other boy’s smile was infection and he felt himself grinning along, dimples rising in his cheeks.

“I’m Harry,” he replied quietly.

“Speak up a bit!” his new companion laughed a wild chuckle that caught the young boy off guard but was impossible not to join in with.

“I’m Harry,” he stated more confidently, and then decided to be daring. “Do – do you want to play?” His new friend nodded enthusiastically, dragged him up from the bench and began an impromptu game of tag. His 7 year old friends all started to join in, and Harry had never felt so popular. The wind whipped through his curls, his cheeks flushed red from the exercise and by 10 minutes into the game he was panting the warm September air. Maybe things would be better after all! If he had a friend - an older, nicer and obviously much cooler friend - then perhaps school wasn’t going to be a living nightmare. And that was when the other boys from reception joined in.

* 

One of them was tagged almost immediately and he went straight after Harry. Whereas the other children who had been ‘it’ had been opportunistic about the next kid they nominated to be on, the boy who they were now running from had singled out the curly haired pupil and was relentlessly chasing him. Neither Niall nor any of his mates seemed to realise what was happening until he’d been tackled to the tarmac rather roughly by the other young boy. He cried out as he hit the ground and prepared for further assault, but the next arms that grabbed him weren’t those of his anonymous attacker but instead belonged to the blonde boy who until quarter of an hour ago he didn’t even know the name of.

“Stupid!” the older child yelled at the reception student, and then helped Harry up from the ground. “Come on, let’s go to the nurse. She’ll make you better.” The two infants made their way across the playground, the smaller one hobbling along and the other reaching an arm around his shoulders. It was comforting to the 4 year old that despite the bullying which he still couldn’t see a reason for he had found a new friend on his very first day. However this couldn’t counter the pain that was spreading from his knees through his legs, and it was all he could do to stop himself from crying.

* 

When he reached the nurses office he spun a tale about tripping over his own feet and after receiving a plaster was sent on his way. Niall sighed that he should have told the truth and got the boy to apologise but Harry knew that would just cause even more trouble for him. And so it continued for the next few months: Harry would spend all his time in class being mentally and physically harassed by the astonishingly young group of bullies but at break he was protected by his new friend. Despite their young age they grew quite close and it was only thanks to the older boy that his playtimes weren’t as hellish as his lessons. Through no fault of his own, the young child seemed to have developed a reputation throughout his whole year, if not the school, as ‘the posh idiot’ and his existence there was not a happy one. Yet he refused to tell any of his teachers or even his mother who he was exceedingly close to about his predicament for fear that their involvement would lead to further teasing. He simply began to accept that this was the way his future in the school was destined to be, and if he had Niall by his side throughout it then hopefully it would never get too bad. However he had no idea that the small bliss he shared with his friend was about to be callously shattered by matters out of their control. It was a crisp December day when the older boy finally revealed what had been playing on his mind for several weeks.

“Harry?” he asked cautiously, unsure what to say next, as they played snakes and ladders together in an empty classroom due to the bad weather. His companion nodded to show he was listening, and the lad decided to just blurt it out as usual. “We’re moving away – me, mum and my brother. We’re going to Ireland, and it’s across the ocean, and I’ll probably never see you again!” This wasn’t a particularly subtle way of letting his friend know the awful truth, but by the end of his outburst the blonde child was too distraught to say anything consoling. Instead it was the younger boy who comforted his peer, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

*

Niall left the school in February, just days before Harry’s 5th birthday. There were lots of people crowded at the school gates at 3.30 waving him goodbye and wishing him well, for despite his interaction with the socially undesirable younger boy he had always been a popular and well liked pupil. He hugged everyone at least twice, but it was when he reached the smallest boy there that the tears began to flow.

“I’ll miss you Haz,” he whispered, and the other boy nodded in agreement, his own eyes threatening to spill over. As his only friend left in his mother’s car he felt a poke in his back and quickly left before any more provocation began. He found a small alcove near the back of the school and only then did he let himself cry. He had no clue what he would do now to save himself from the bullies. They would doubtless continue to treat him like dirt, but now he had no support system to lean on at all. The tears streamed down his face while his juvenile mind attempted to deal with problems beyond his years. It was just a week later that he left the school and refused to ever return. His mother had no idea what exactly had caused his sudden behaviour but she attributed it to the loss of Niall which she knew had been traumatic for him. Anne arranged for a series of tutors to teach Harry in his bedroom, which was pretty much where he’d remained ever since. They had both fallen into a routine that wasn’t healthy for either of their lives yet they had no idea of the deep-rooted problems in their small family unit. Maybe it would take a boy with feathery hair to make them realise and change.


	7. Prying Eyes Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

Louis couldn’t look his father in the eye the next morning. The dream he’d experienced had just been far too weird and personal to discuss but at the same time he wanted answers. Why had Danielle been holding a baby version of the boy across the road? Had his stillborn brother really looked like that or was he simply factoring people from real life into his fantasies? Whatever the case there was something strange going on with his young neighbour, not least the thoughts that the older boy was having about him. He ought to be scared of the lad, or at any rate want to keep his distance, but his body had other ideas. Something about those eyes or that hair had become encased in his mind and now he couldn’t stop thinking about him. The nature of his attraction concerned him, though, as he’d sworn after the unmentionable incident that he would never fall for someone, let alone become close to them. And yet he appeared to be doing just that for the anonymous teenager.

*

He made his way to school as soon as possible, wanting to get out of the house and forget about all his feelings. In form Niall and Louis chatted away while deliberately ignoring the incident on Monday, which the younger boy was thankful for. It was such a relief for him to be in an environment where no-one asked too many questions about him and his past. Maybe one day he’d tell them anyway, but for now he wanted the truth about him and Liam’s move and the reason for his panic attacks to remain hidden. He threw himself into his work more thoroughly than usual in the hope that it would distract him from the emotions and thoughts that kept rising within him at the memory of the boy at the window and the baby in his arms. None of his teachers seemed to notice this increase in effort as they had no way of knowing that his normal work output was of a much lower standard, but it felt good to him that he was managing to channel his energy into something positive. Admittedly there was the risk of him being labelled a geek if he took his studies to heart too much, but at the same time his exams were scheduled for the next summer and he did not want to be forced to resit them if he failed. As he approached 18 Louis felt he was outgrowing the education system and he wanted to be free to go his own way in the world, hopefully free from the baggage that kept being dragged around with him.

*

Louis decided internally that the best course of action for him to take would be denial and forgetting – after all they had been good enough in the past when he’d been trying to move on. He couldn’t deal with the idea that he might be more complicated than he’d let himself think, because that would mean totally reassessing his life, including the bits that he’d hidden under a blanket in the furthest recesses of his mind. The teenager knew he had ‘emotional problems’ or whatever you wanted to call them, he just didn’t want to address them at present. Instead he mucked around with Niall at break, finally worked out what an enzyme was in science and returned home the happy, smiley boy that he knew people expected to see. Wearing a grin had always been easy feat for him, no matter how he truly felt inside, which was why acting happened to be one of his natural talents. The only person who could ever see through the facade was Liam, knowing as he did all there was about his son. Everything, that was, apart from the mystery boy. He didn’t know why but it was vaguely satisfying to Louis to have a secret his father didn’t know about, and he was determined it would stay that way. As he completed his homework and whiled away his time online he pointedly didn’t think about curly hair and green eyes When his dad returned from work and made dinner for the younger man who was notoriously bad at cooking anything more complicated than beans on toast he actually engaged them in a conversation so that he had no time to wonder about his sexuality. While he watched telly in the living room he made sure to tune into lengthy foreign crime thrillers which required his upmost attention to make sense so that his brain couldn’t drift off and reflect on his memories. It was only when he went up to bed and was attempting to fall asleep as fast as possible that all the suppressed thoughts came rushing back.

*

His brain told him that what he was thinking could only lead to trouble and tried to convince him that the erection he had gained from just picturing the young man in his mind was pure coincidence. But Louis’ heart (or the right hemisphere of his brain, whichever it was controlling his gut reactions) wondered whether he should let himself begin to explore his feelings towards the teenager. After all, he was seventeen and he couldn’t spend his whole life being afraid of conveying emotion towards other people simply because he was scared that it would mean being vulnerable. He was in turmoil as to how to react to the curly haired boy, whose name, age and even full appearance he had no idea of. Instead of facing all his issues head on he decided to try and deal with the one point that had been playing on his mind all day: his sexuality. He’d never really thought about it until a year ago when the idea had been shoved towards him in the most brutal way possible, but even o he’d always presumed that he was indeed straight. He’d never been attracted to other boys, or if he had then it had happened without him even realising it. When he made himself actually start to think about it, though, there had been times when Louis had looked at male celebrities for example and considered them to be good looking or even hot but he’d considered that to be simply him being comfortable with his own sexuality. He certainly never saw it as being gay. But there wasn’t much else to think about when it came to the anonymous lad. From the physical reactions he was experiencing to the emotional ones it was clear to any outside observer that he had fallen pretty deeply for him. However whatever changes that would mean to Louis’ lifestyle he didn’t want to dwell on them because that would mean that the man had been right. The ominous figure that haunted all his nightmares loomed in his mind and without another thought for his possible homosexuality the terrible dreams began.

*

When he woke up his brain was still no clearer as to how to solve his situation. Looking out of the window at the beautiful garden that was not yet showing any signs of the approaching Autumn, he felt calm but at the same time disconnected as though he couldn’t be bothered to work out what was wrong with him when it was obviously too complicated for his young mind to figure out by himself. Louis knew that he wasn’t likely to forget the child across the road in a hurry but perhaps it would be easier for him to just let the feelings pass. He’d let them be locked away with the memories of his traumatic formative years and the events of a few months ago, and then eventually the young man would be gone forever, or as near enough as possible. The teenager shouldn’t mean anything to him and yet the partially obscured face kept appearing in his mind whenever he closed his eyes. The only way to get rid of it was to act as though the boy didn’t even exist. He strapped on his happy face as he left the house and prepared for another day of being just any old teenager in front of his friends.

*

_It had been a long day in the office for Liam and he didn’t think he could face the joy of grotty public transport and his surly son yet. He loved Louis, of course he did, but keeping the teenager happy was draining at times. He knew that what the younger man had experienced was responsible for his detached attitude and yet he felt like he was underappreciated by his child. Or maybe it was just the boy’s age. Either way it was with great relief that he spotted a decent looking tearoom - that was the one good thing about Cheshire compared to Doncaster: they actually had decent cafes. He made his way into the nicely cosy building. There were only a handful of other customers in the teashop being served by a smiling blonde student in red lipstick so he had plenty of tables to choose from. After ordering himself a cup, he sat down in a corner seat and wondered if moving had been the best idea after all. Admittedly Louis hadn’t been any worse since they’d arrived in the new area but he hadn’t been much better either. All Liam had wanted to do was enable the two of them to move on with their lives, but would dealing with it have been a better course of action? As he contemplated this the cafe slowly began to fill with commuters due to its location opposite the train station, and the tables all around him were taken._

_*_

_“Sorry, is it alright if I sit here?” The man looked up in surprise at a twentysomething stood next to the seat opposite. “Everywhere else is full, that’s all,” the younger guy smiled which Liam thought made him look rather beautiful. Shaking his head to rid it of those thoughts, he nodded and gestured to the table._

_“Sure,” he replied, reaching out a hand which the young man stared at, bemused, for a minute before realising he was supposed to shake it._

_“Sorry,” he said, completing the nicely formal gesture. “That’s me showing my youth. Not enough people shake hands these days!” Just then a waitress came over and asked the dark haired man if he wanted to order and whilst he did Liam couldn’t help but look his new acquaintance over. He was Asian it appeared, and his ears were pierced with black studs that normally he’d have dismissed as being cheap but seemed to match this man’s style. As he thought this the guy across the table turned back, a grin still on his face. “I’m Zayn, by the way,” he told the brunette; leaning over the surface as though he really wanted to get to know him. “Zayn Malik.”_

_“I’m Liam…” the older man replied before pausing to wonder what to give as his second name. Although legally it was Payne, he and Danielle had never been officially married and Louis had taken her surname of Tomlinson so he often did too. Deciding that this was a situation his son had no part in he continued. “Payne. Liam Payne.” Their conversation continued as the tea arrived and the forty year old couldn’t help feeling that moving had probably been a good idea after all._


	8. Prying Eyes Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

On reflection, when Harry looked back years later he decided it was typical of his and Louis’ lives that the event which ended up finally bringing them together in a way was something as morbid as a car accident. And even more so that it had happened on such a perfect September day which for the both of them had proved more miserable than any amount of rain could have symbolised. The younger teen had spent nearly two weeks now growing more and more enchanted with his adolescent neighbour – he spent all his spare time gazing out of the window in the hope of catching a glimpse of his beautiful face, and he carefully recorded everything he gleaned on his laptop in a manner that to an outsider would seem almost freakishly obsessive but which to him was simply a normal way of continuing his ‘investigations’. He still had no way of classifying his emotions towards the older boy, but had settled on curiosity. The tanned young man was a fascinating person to him, and his every movement or word that Harry strained to hear through his opened window seemed to reflect his grace and perfection. And yet the 14 year old was still none the wiser about anything except the lad’s name, age and an awful lot about his father which the curly haired teenager had been told by his mother. Anne worried about his increasingly obsessive behaviours (although she had no idea who it was that had captivated her son) but their relationship was so fragile that after spending years of tending to his every whim she didn’t want to upset the delicate balance that they had upheld for so long.

*

On that fateful Saturday he wasn’t, for once, actually residing in his bedroom, but was instead casually observing the first few fallen leaves on the street outside through the partially stained glass of his living room window. He wasn’t expecting to see Louis at all due to the young man’s reclusive habits which were something like his own, but he still enjoyed observing life outside his own small bubble. There was a young girl of about 10 years old walking down the road, balancing on the edge of the pavement like a tightrope walker. She hadn’t really caught Harry’s attention as he’d been too busy trying to get a glimpse through number 15’s windows, until all of a sudden the suburban silence was filled with the incessant roaring of a car engine whose source was out of sight. The boy looked around for the vehicle that was making such a racket when it was made clear as a battered Hyundai whizzed around the corner, obviously being driven by joy riders. The pale teenager could only watch, his mouth agape, as the car sped down the street just as the girl stumbled from her narrow walkway into the road. The result was inevitable but still horrific: blood spilled across the pavement as the drivers kept on going as fast as their wheels would carry them. Without any clue as to what he was doing, Harry ran out of the room, down the hallway and through the door into the street which he hadn’t entered for what felt like years. He wasn’t the only one who had rushed outside at the sight and sound of the accident, and several of his neighbours were standing there aghast.

* 

A self-important man who seemed to think he knew what to do ran towards the girl while yelling for someone to call an ambulance. Thankfully the child started to cry into the panicked near silence and Harry gasped with relief as he realised she wasn’t dead. In fact, as he (along with many other residents of the area) began to step towards her he realised that in fact the car had only just hit her and her injuries seemed rather mild except for a cut to the forehead. Glancing up to look around at the other shocked spectators he looked over at the other side of the road and that was when he saw him, the boy who he’d been watching intently ever since his arrival, who made him feel confused and overjoyed at the same time: Louis. He knew it wasn’t exactly appropriate, but all the young man could think then was how beautiful his neighbour looked, with a beanie flopped delicately on his head and his cerulean eyes bright and full of energy. Despite the unusual heat of the day the older teen was wearing very thick, modest clothing that seemed to wrap him up from the outside world. His appearance was almost the antithesis of Harry’s but when their eyes met for the second time since the former’s moves to the area, the bright jade and sparkling azure seemed to complement each other as though they were destined to hold their gaze forever. He didn’t know what to do – he thought he should probably look away but it was impossible, he couldn’t stop staring at the brilliantly blue orbs that had captivated him for a month.

* 

Neither of them realised that they were walking towards each other until they were almost face to face. It was a surreal moment for Harry as he finally stood in front of the person he’s been observing for so long and Louis seemed to be thinking similar thoughts. He was unsure what to say to the object of his unknown desire, but before he had chance to voice the thoughts that were whizzing through his mind Anne was suddenly there, ruining the moment slightly.

“Harry what are you doing? I didn’t know where you were for a moment, I was worried!” Then she noticed the rather dreamy expressions on both of the young men’s faces. “Are you two OK? It’s Larry isn’t it? You look like you might be in shock dear; do you want to come in?” The older boy hesitated before nodding slowly and following Harry and his mother towards their house.

“Louis,” the significantly paler teen muttered in a barely audible tone.

“What’s that?” his mum asked kindly, sensing that there was something rather sensitive going on even if she had no idea of its origin.

“His name’s Louis,” he said a little louder this time and turned back towards the 17 year old. “I’m Harry,” he told him quietly, reaching out a hand to be shaken. His new acquaintance flinched involuntarily at the near contact and the younger lad retracted his arm, confused. The blue-eyed boy shook his head as though telling him not to ask any questions and the teenager knew better than to pry. Instead he basked in the fact that he was actually walking side by side with the neighbour he’d coveted for too long.

* 

It was the oddest thing that had ever happened to Harry. He was sat in his living room drinking tea with Louis Tomlinson and trying to act as though he hadn’t spent the previous month or so admiring him from behind a pane of glass. His mother pottered about in her usual well-meaning way, still under the impression that both the boys must be suffering a little from shock brought on by the car accident. It was after about 5 minutes that she realised in the midst of her friendly rambling (her son and neighbour had both said nothing since they’d entered the house) that Liam would probably be wondering where on earth his offspring had disappeared to.

“Oh, Louis, your father must be going out of his mind with worry over you! I’ll just pop over the road and tell him where you are, that is, if you want to stay?” She looked at the older boy expectantly and he nodded towards her, still unspeaking. Anne smiled at the thought that her child might finally have found himself a new friend, and then went out the front door leaving the two teenagers to sit there in increasingly awkward silence.

“So…” Harry said in an attempt to do anything possible to break the silence.

“So what?” asked the young man sat opposite in a tone that was confused and slightly disbelieving. Then he sighed for a reason that the younger lad couldn’t discern and looked up into his eyes. Just as every time they had linked irises before it sent an invigorating feeling down the curly haired boy’s spine and this time he made sure not to look away. “I’m sorry. I just don’t really know what to say to you.” The 14 year old was extremely confused as to what his companion’s feelings towards him were but he realised that this might be the only chance he had to reveal some of his.

“I know what you mean,” he began tentatively, unsure how to reveal his emotions. “It’s like I don’t really need to say anything to you, because…” The teenager left the sentence hanging in the hope that the other would finish it. Thankfully after half a seconds pause he complied.

“Because it’s like I’ve known you all my life.”

* 

Harry’s heart stopped. He didn’t know whether to believe that person he was utterly in love with (although his young age meant he hadn’t realised this was the case yet) had just revealed that he thought of him as a soul mate too.

“That is exactly what I was going to say,” he breathed and the atmosphere in the room grew even deeper. Their eyes were still interlocked as he bore more of their souls to each his neighbour after 10 minutes than he had done to his mother in 14 years. “I don’t know what it is but I think I can tell you anything.” He was holding his breath again, wondering if he might have misjudged what Louis had meant with his statement. Perhaps the older boy had merely meant it in the sense that he felt settled in his new area after the move? But the dreamy look had gone from the tanned young man’s eyes as he nodded avidly in agreement.

“It’s so strange,” he started slowly, as though weighing up the words in his mouth before he let them fall into the silence, “and I’ve never felt like this before, but you’re, sort of, like someone I’ve been looking for all my life. Even though I’ve only known you since today. Does that make sense?”

* 

Harry couldn’t help it: he just wanted to be able to touch Louis in order to convey the steep levels of emotion he was feeling. He reached out a hand towards the older boy and rested it on his arm, despite having gathered from the young man’s behaviour that he had an aversion to physical contact. The 17 year old glanced down at where the limb lay on his skin and realised that he hadn’t flinched away at all. For once he’d found somebody whose touch didn’t make him react with fear and disgust. Looking back up, his aquamarine eyes enchanted the pale teenager who felt ridiculously pleased by the new total lack of anxiety and reserve in them.

“I’m letting you touch me,” his voice was incredulous but wondrously happy. “Why am I doing that?” There was silence for a moment, with the other unsure how to respond. “It’s like you’re finally someone I can trust,” he continued thoughtfully. Harry was utterly delighted – he couldn’t believe this was happening to him!

“You, you trust me?” he asked to check his ears were not deceiving him, hoping to God that he had heard correctly. Louis nodded in all seriousness; he still never dropped his eyes from those of the younger boy.

“Yes. I trust you.” In a moment of madness the curly haired teenager leaned yet further towards the object of his protracted desire until they were literally nose to nose.

“Still trust me?” he whispered in a husky tone that sounded as though it belonged to someone much older than himself.

“Yes. I think I’ll always trust you.” With his heart in his mouth the adolescent closed the gap by pressing his lips oh-so-gently again his neighbour’s.

* 

He half expected Louis to run away from him the moment he established the contact but in fact the older teen seemed to be enjoying the embrace as much as Harry was. It was the emerald eyed youth’s first kiss and he didn’t think he could ask for anything better. His companion was similarly nervous it appeared and yet there was distinct passion and something he couldn’t quite lay his finger on which made him feel fantastic in the gesture. He has no idea how long they had been going for, the awkwardness beginning to melt away as they grew used to the feel of the other’s lips on theirs, but all too soon they heard the front door opening and Anne coming through. The teenagers flung apart and sat it their seats, the younger boy unwittingly turning crimson at the thought of nearly being caught kissing by his own mother.

“Liam says it fine for you to stay for a while, dear,” she told her guest as she made her way into the living room with no idea of what had just occurred in there. The tanned young man nodded but was already rising from his seat and reaching for the jacket hung over the arm of the chair.

“Thank you Mrs Styles, but I really ought to be going. I’ve got so much homework to do I’m afraid.” The woman smiled politely, beginning to realise something must be up, and Harry just stared at the adolescent wondering what was causing him to leave so quickly. Their eyes met quickly and Louis’ brilliantly blue eyes flashed with what might have been love or hate, and then the older adolescent was gone leaving the other a confused but at the same time overjoyed mess.


	9. Prying Eyes Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

Harry would never forget his first day at school. For 4 years he had been a perfectly normal, happy boy: he loved music and football and had been popular at his private nursery. But when Anne had lost her job a few months before his premiere scholastic year was due to begin she knew her dreams of sending him to a public school had been dashed. In her mind this was actually a positive thing, after all the idea of having to pay for primary education was outdated and elitist to be perfectly honest, but in reality it would turn into her biggest ever regret. Unfortunately, as a result of the last-minute nature of her redundancy she was forced to get him enrolled at the only school which still had places left: the notoriously rough Shaleton Primary. But his mother was determined not to worry about the effect that his education there might have on their family, because the connotations it raised were in her eyes the views of the prejudiced middle class mother she’d never wanted to become. So it was with little trepidation that she handed him over to his new teacher (a smiley young woman by the name of Miss Hutchinson) and waved goodbye on the 2nd of September when the school year began. Little did she know she has every right to be worried for her son’s wellbeing.

*

The day didn’t get off to the most auspicious start when Harry realised he was pretty much the only pupil in the class who didn’t live in the estate across the road from the school. This, along with his clipped accent and smart clothes, instantly singled him out as different from the other children which, as is often the case with young people, provoked a group of lads to begin harassing him. Despite all of them being only 4 years old they knew how to intimidate and antagonise the small, rather pale child without alerting the attention of the teacher. Being such a nice boy he refused to sink to their level and tried to ignore the teasing but it still persisted. Harry was confused as to what exactly he had done to encourage his peers to humiliate him, but as the gentle ribbing turned to all out bullying he had no idea how to defend himself against the pokes and prods. For the rest of his few years he had always been popular with other children yet evidently his sweet caring nature was not going to be appreciated in this environment. He grew more and more miserable and it was with relief that he ran out into the playground at break. However with no friends to join he had to simply take a place at one of the plastic benches near the wall by himself.

*

As he wondered why the event he’d been looking forward to for so long had turned sour already, a much bigger blonde boy came over to where he sat on his own, and introduced himself smiling.

“Hey I’m Niall,” Harry glanced up at him, unsure as to whether he was being serious or this was another wind up. Why on earth would this older pupil want anything to do with him? Although he was not old enough or in much of a position to have examined the social demographic of the school it was clear enough that children in the same year interacted with each other and that was it. It was therefore rather suspicious to him that this student was willing to communicate with him. But the other boy’s smile was infection and he felt himself grinning along, dimples rising in his cheeks.

“I’m Harry,” he replied quietly.

“Speak up a bit!” his new companion laughed a wild chuckle that caught the young boy off guard but was impossible not to join in with.

“I’m Harry,” he stated more confidently, and then decided to be daring. “Do – do you want to play?” His new friend nodded enthusiastically, dragged him up from the bench and began an impromptu game of tag. His 7 year old friends all started to join in, and Harry had never felt so popular. The wind whipped through his curls, his cheeks flushed red from the exercise and by 10 minutes into the game he was panting the warm September air. Maybe things would be better after all! If he had a friend - an older, nicer and obviously much cooler friend - then perhaps school wasn’t going to be a living nightmare. And that was when the other boys from reception joined in.

* 

One of them was tagged almost immediately and he went straight after Harry. Whereas the other children who had been ‘it’ had been opportunistic about the next kid they nominated to be on, the boy who they were now running from had singled out the curly haired pupil and was relentlessly chasing him. Neither Niall nor any of his mates seemed to realise what was happening until he’d been tackled to the tarmac rather roughly by the other young boy. He cried out as he hit the ground and prepared for further assault, but the next arms that grabbed him weren’t those of his anonymous attacker but instead belonged to the blonde boy who until quarter of an hour ago he didn’t even know the name of.

“Stupid!” the older child yelled at the reception student, and then helped Harry up from the ground. “Come on, let’s go to the nurse. She’ll make you better.” The two infants made their way across the playground, the smaller one hobbling along and the other reaching an arm around his shoulders. It was comforting to the 4 year old that despite the bullying which he still couldn’t see a reason for he had found a new friend on his very first day. However this couldn’t counter the pain that was spreading from his knees through his legs, and it was all he could do to stop himself from crying.

* 

When he reached the nurses office he spun a tale about tripping over his own feet and after receiving a plaster was sent on his way. Niall sighed that he should have told the truth and got the boy to apologise but Harry knew that would just cause even more trouble for him. And so it continued for the next few months: Harry would spend all his time in class being mentally and physically harassed by the astonishingly young group of bullies but at break he was protected by his new friend. Despite their young age they grew quite close and it was only thanks to the older boy that his playtimes weren’t as hellish as his lessons. Through no fault of his own, the young child seemed to have developed a reputation throughout his whole year, if not the school, as ‘the posh idiot’ and his existence there was not a happy one. Yet he refused to tell any of his teachers or even his mother who he was exceedingly close to about his predicament for fear that their involvement would lead to further teasing. He simply began to accept that this was the way his future in the school was destined to be, and if he had Niall by his side throughout it then hopefully it would never get too bad. However he had no idea that the small bliss he shared with his friend was about to be callously shattered by matters out of their control. It was a crisp December day when the older boy finally revealed what had been playing on his mind for several weeks.

“Harry?” he asked cautiously, unsure what to say next, as they played snakes and ladders together in an empty classroom due to the bad weather. His companion nodded to show he was listening, and the lad decided to just blurt it out as usual. “We’re moving away – me, mum and my brother. We’re going to Ireland, and it’s across the ocean, and I’ll probably never see you again!” This wasn’t a particularly subtle way of letting his friend know the awful truth, but by the end of his outburst the blonde child was too distraught to say anything consoling. Instead it was the younger boy who comforted his peer, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

*

Niall left the school in February, just days before Harry’s 5th birthday. There were lots of people crowded at the school gates at 3.30 waving him goodbye and wishing him well, for despite his interaction with the socially undesirable younger boy he had always been a popular and well liked pupil. He hugged everyone at least twice, but it was when he reached the smallest boy there that the tears began to flow.

“I’ll miss you Haz,” he whispered, and the other boy nodded in agreement, his own eyes threatening to spill over. As his only friend left in his mother’s car he felt a poke in his back and quickly left before any more provocation began. He found a small alcove near the back of the school and only then did he let himself cry. He had no clue what he would do now to save himself from the bullies. They would doubtless continue to treat him like dirt, but now he had no support system to lean on at all. The tears streamed down his face while his juvenile mind attempted to deal with problems beyond his years. It was just a week later that he left the school and refused to ever return. His mother had no idea what exactly had caused his sudden behaviour but she attributed it to the loss of Niall which she knew had been traumatic for him. Anne arranged for a series of tutors to teach Harry in his bedroom, which was pretty much where he’d remained ever since. They had both fallen into a routine that wasn’t healthy for either of their lives yet they had no idea of the deep-rooted problems in their small family unit. Maybe it would take a boy with feathery hair to make them realise and change.


	10. Prying Eyes Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

Louis did come back. If he was honest Harry didn’t know what he’d have done if he hadn’t, and indeed he spent the whole of Saturday night and Sunday morning worrying about the possibility that the boy he was suddenly, totally, unexpectedly but irrevocably in love with would just leave again and never return. When he sat down for breakfast he could feel his mother’s anxious gaze boring into him across the breakfast table, causing him to worry that maybe she had somehow developed mind-reading powers and could tell exactly what sort of anxious and ultimately inappropriate thoughts he was having about his neighbour. He knew that whatever it was that was going on between the two of them had to remain secret at least until he could understand what exactly their situation was, and his mother was the last person he wanted to find out the truth. At least he had finally realised a stage where he recognised and could name his feelings for Louis, however, and the conclusion he had drawn was that he was in love. All the symptoms were there (heart fluttering, wistful longing, endless rambling thoughts about the beautiful blue of the other boy’s eyes) and though he was unsure why exactly he had begun to feel this way towards a member of the same sex he could tell even with his complete lack of experience that he’d fallen too deep to try and persuade himself against the idea. Harry was in love and there would be no way of escaping any time soon.

* 

“Can you pass the milk please, love?” He was called out of his daydreaming by the gentle but slightly worried tones of his mother. He complied with her request and hoped that she would let him go back to his fantasies, however she continued to fix him with a rather piercing stare which rekindled the thoughts he’d been having just minutes earlier about her possible powers of telepathy. “Are you OK, Harry?” Anne asked concernedly and it took the adolescent a minute to realise she was expecting an answer and he nodded fervently, trying to persuade her to end the conversation and convince her that he was a perfectly normal, well-adjusted teenager rather than one with suddenly discovered homosexual tendencies towards his significantly older neighbour and an increasingly nervous disposition with regards to abandonment. Apart from that he was totally average and ordinary. “Are you sure?” she pressed on, unknowingly increasing his discontentment as she continued to probe into his feelings – something that almost never happened due to his self-confinement and her frightfully busy home work schedule. Swallowing his mouthful of cereal the young man decided the best thing to do would be to answer in a way that would hopefully end the conversation for good.

“Yes, mum, I’m fine! Why wouldn’t I be?” Anne sighed, half in agreement and half in exasperation, and leaned across the table towards her son, gazing straight into the green eyes which she knew so well and yet not at all.

“I know, I know, I’m just fussing over nothing because I’m your mother. But it must have been a traumatic experience yesterday…” Harry’s heart skipped a beat as he automatically jumped to the conclusion that she was talking about the kiss, and he inwardly instructed himself to be as emotionless as possible so as not to give anything away. “…what with the accident and everything.”

* 

Breathing out a sigh of relief he realised he was in fact off the hook and the curly haired boy couldn’t prevent a grateful grin from breaking out across his face. His mum frowned slightly, continuing to stare into the windows of his soul before leaning back in her seat in a more relaxed manner. “You would tell me if there was anything wrong, wouldn’t you dear?” Harry nodded, already rising to his feet and reaching for the opened book he’d been trying to read before their conversation, and replied as he started to leave the room.

“Of course I would!” It wasn’t a lie, he decided as he exited the door to the dining room. After all, he’d definitely tell Anne if anything went drastically wrong in his life that he needed help with, and, anyway, there was no way that his relationship with Louis could be described as wrong in the conventional sense of the word. The way that the older teen kissed him was far too perfect and magical to be at all negative, or at least that was how he perceived it to be. This explanation consoled him enough to stop worrying about lying to his mother and instead his thoughts went (as had become usual in the past month or so) back to his neighbour and whether or not he would return as promised. As the hours ticked by he began to wonder if he had in fact dreamed the events of the night before and Louis had never showed up with his irresistible charms that had made him almost instantly forget the rejection of the afternoon. What if his love-sick mind had been addled so much that he’d imagined the whole thing? Trying to relax, he listened to music in his bedroom but the lyrics all blurred together until they were meaningless and whenever he closed his eyes he could see the other young man’s blue orbs reflected in the back of his mind. It suddenly hit him that if the older boy did show up then there was no way he’d be able to hear the squeak of the gate being opened which would alert him to his presence, and he quickly reached over to switch off the Blink 182 song that was blasting out form his CD player’s speakers and instead listened out for the telltale noise. After all he was almost certain that his neighbour wouldn’t want anyone to realise he was visiting Harry due to his strangely secretive behaviour the other evening!

* 

However the sound that filtered from the ground floor and into his ears was one he couldn’t have expected. There was a quick rap on the front door which he heard Anne go to answer, yet when he racked his brain he couldn’t think of any visitors his mother was expecting or why there would be cause for someone to call around apart from Louis who he fully expected to have to sneak round the back of the house for fear of them being spotted together. He couldn’t really understand why his brain had jumped to the conclusion that there was no way anyone else could know about their strange, unexplainable relationship but the more he convinced himself that the older boy had decided it was for the best the more sense it seemed to make in his head. Turning towards the window he craned his neck to try and catch a glimpse of who exactly was stood on the front porch but from the chirpy tones of his mum inviting their guest in he knew it was too late. Whilst wondering whether it would seem at all conspicuous if he made his way downstairs in order to ogle the mysterious visitor she called up the stairs something that made his heart stop.

“Haz, Louis’ here! He says he wants to talk to you!” The blood in Harry’s veins froze as he processed what had just been said, and it was only when his mum called after him again that he realised she was expecting a reply.

“I – I’m coming, mum!” _Move Harry_ , he told himself through the blur of confusion and anxiety that currently inhabited his brain, _you have to move_. His legs moving in a weirdly detached way from his brain he proceeded out of his room and down the stairs, taking them one at a time in an attempt to appear nonchalant when actually he was brimming with excitement at the thought of seeing the older teenager again.

* 

As he reached the ground floor Harry saw his mother standing in the doorway to the kitchen along the hallway, grinning in a manner which he knew was meant to be encouraging but made him cringe with embarrassment. Peering past her he spotted Louis hovering awkwardly behind her and a similarly wide smile spread unconsciously across the younger boy’s face at the sight of him. They caught each other’s eye and his neighbour grinned back before putting on a more solemn expression when Anne turned back towards him questioningly.

“What was it you wanted, dear?” The question was innocent enough but her son couldn’t help worrying that she had cottoned on to the reason for the other teenager’s presence. Luckily for him, though, his friend was a much better liar than him and he quickly replied without a hint of anxiety,

“I’m sorry but I think I left my hoodie here yesterday and I wondered if you’d seen it anywhere?” The lie tripped easily off Louis’ tongue and the woman opposite him seemed convinced enough by his reply to let him through to the hallway whilst she replied in the sweet, rather loud tones she always saved especially for guests.

“Well, no I haven’t I’m afraid but you can ask Hazza…” the adolescent didn’t hear the rest of what she was saying because of the intense heat which rose to his cheeks at the sound of his mum using his rather childish sounding nickname in front of his suddenly much older seeming neighbour. The 17 year old turned to him with a face that made it clear he was trying not to laugh and answered as normally as was possible under the circumstances.

“Yes, _Hazza_ , I was just thinking that maybe I left it in your room.”

* 

There was, to his surprise, no malice in Louis’ words and indeed it sent tingles down his spine when the older boy used his nickname much like the feelings he’d experienced when they had kissed the day before.

“You know, when you were showing me your laptop?” The 17 year old’s voice cut across his memories and he nodded quickly in order to eradicate any seeds of doubt which might have been forming in his mother’s mind.

“Yeah I saw it; it’s just, um, upstairs, where you left it…” Harry knew he was fumbling with his words and wished he possessed the natural ability to lie easily which the other teenager appeared to have. Indeed the young man in front of him was frowning with concern at his poor attempts at untruthfulness and rapidly retook control of the conversation.

“Well that’s excellent, I was getting rather worried that I’d misplaced it so that’s a relief to hear. Maybe you could just lead the way and I can collect it…?” It wasn’t subtle but it did the job and before his mother could interrupt them with an awkward question about the relationship he was desperately trying to keep private he had ushered Louis along the hallway and up the stairs.

* 

The moment they were out of Anne’s line of sight Louis reached out for Harry’s hand, still seeming rather surprised at his own lack of reaction to the human contact. The younger boy smiled and half-dragged him through his bedroom door and into the room which he usually kept utterly private from everyone else but was perfectly willing to reveal with to his ridiculously attractive neighbour. As the door swung shut behind them he glanced across at the slightly taller teenager shyly, wondering whether it would be too presumptuous if he kissed him there and then, but the other guy beat him to it so there was suddenly a pair of warm, rather wet lips pressed against his own. As he melted into the embrace, the green eyed adolescent felt himself fall in love with his friend all over again despite the relatively short time difference between this kiss and their last one. But he was beginning to realise that he would never grow tired of the tanned young man’s behaviours and especially not their displays of affection. He moved his mouth in perfect synchronisation with his neighbour’s before they broke apart, grinning like idiots.

“You know, you’re a terrible liar, Hazza,” Louis whispered into the curly haired lad’s ear and he nodded sheepishly. “But I don’t mind because it’s sort of cute.” Harry kissed him then, partly to shut him up and end his embarrassment but also because he couldn’t stand not being attached to the youth opposite for more than a minute. They remained in the amorous position for another five minutes, only surfacing occasionally for breath when it was absolutely necessary, until Anne called up the stairs and they remembered they weren’t in fact alone in the house.

“I’m coming mum!” he replied before pecking his companion on the lips once more and making his way over to the wardrobe in the corner of the room. Opening the oak panelled doors he reached in for a blue hoodie (an unwanted and rarely worn Christmas present from a distant aunt) which he chucked to the dreamy-eyed boy stood next to the door frame.

* 

“You need this to make your cover story work,” he told him and wondered where exactly his newfound suave and ease with the situation had come from.

“Oh, yeah,” Louis murmured somewhat distantly, then shook his head as though clearing it of unwanted thoughts and smiling over at Harry. “Thank you.” The younger boy returned the grin and they left the room together, hand in hand as before. Just as they were about to descend the stairs to the hallway he suddenly stopped and held out an arm to ensure his friend (although the term no longer seemed to do justice to the depth of their relationship) did the same.

“Do you promise you’ll come back?” He spoke softly so they would not be overheard and he couldn’t help the rather desperate tone in his voice as he asked the question which seemed to have become a mainstay in their conversations together. The blue eyed teen nodded seriously in answer and suddenly the other lad knew there was no need to worry about being left alone this time. Whatever it was they had fallen into they were in it together and leaving would be simply too painful for the both of them.

“I’ll have to do it secret like, I’m afraid, or Liam might get suspicious,” his neighbour told him a little anxiously but he nodded in understanding: neither of them wanted their parents to find out about them.

“Of course,” he replied and was surprised once again by how naturally words seemed to roll off his tongue whenever Louis was around. “I can sneak you around the back while mum’s working.” They smiled once again and Harry realised that whatever else might come along with their relationship he’d suddenly found himself an unlikely but perfect best friend.

* 

Their meet-ups continued in a rather regimented fashion for another week: every day once he’d finished his schoolwork Harry would park himself by his bedroom window at 3 on the dot so he could watch the hoards of children returning from the comprehensive down the road trickle and then flow past his house. All the time he had his eyes peeled for the familiar mop of brown hair and tanned face which belonged to Louis, and when he caught sight of the older boy he would track his progress towards number 15. When he was inside the pale teenager would wait for about ten minutes, already feverish with anticipation, until he spotted his neighbour’s attempts at subtly crossing the road through the glass and would start to play his music at a high enough volume to conceal the squeak of the side gate opening but not so much that Anne would yell at him up the stairs to ‘turn that racket down!’ This provided the cover not only for his ‘partner in crime’ to operate the squeaky gate without fear of detection but also for him to slip downstairs unnoticed. Whilst his mother worked away in her small office on the ground floor she would be completely oblivious to the fact that her son was sneaking his sort-of-boyfriend through the kitchen door and up the stairs as quickly as was humanly possible.

* 

Then Harry would lock the bedroom door and they’d be safe to do whatever they wanted without having to worry about Anne walking in on them in some sort of compromising position. Not as though they were doing anything wrong, though, at least not in the younger boy’s eyes, but there was the ingrained fear in him (as is present in most adolescent lads) of being caught kissing by his mother. They would never do anything more that kissing – indeed the 14 year old was too innocent to realise that there were other activities which they could themselves in together – which would go on for a considerable amount of time until his mind was awash with strangely uncontrollable emotions and he could think of nothing but Louis and his taste and his looks and his perfection. Just as things would become heated and the curly haired teen felt himself becoming filled with an emotion he’d never experienced before the young man opposite would pull away with either a sly grin or a worried glance, usually depending on how long they had let the embrace continue for. Whatever his expression, the tanned boy’s eyes would always be dark with what Harry had no idea was lust. But the kiss was over and instead of resuming it they would stare at each other as though scrutinising and memorising every minute detail of each other’s face so they would never forget the events of those beautiful yet surreal afternoons. They rarely spoke at these times, preferring to remain in comfortable silence rather than engage in conversation. Occasionally they would kiss again when their raging hormones had calmed down and he would let himself be sucked back into Louis’ charms which never failed to surprise and intoxicate him. He enjoyed the tranquillity of those days after the initial nerve-racking mission to sneak the older youth into the house and also the order they had subconsciously imposed on their routine which kept him calm in a situation which would normally have terrified him with its complexity and uncertainty. When Saturday rolled around he fully expected more of the same, but clearly his friend had decided it was his turn to surprise him.

* 

Harry was sat reading in the living room when the knock came at the door and for some reason he immediately knew exactly who would be standing there when he opened it. Indeed Louis was there on the porch; he broke into a wide grin when he saw the younger lad and waved over-dramatically.

“Didn’t expect this did you?” he asked, laughing, before looking over his shoulder like he was checking for something. “Are you gonna invite me in then?” The young man in the doorway did as he was asked just as Anne came out of the kitchen to see who their guest was and her face lit up with delight and confusion.

“Louis, dear, how nice to see you!” Her son sighed at his mother’s input to the so far one-sided conversation and inwardly wondered why the other teenager couldn’t have been snuck in again to avoid exactly this sort of awkward chatter. “What are you doing here? Lost another sweater?” The fortysomething year old woman continued with a smile and their visitor (who was, unlike his friend, rather handy with the ‘gift of the gab’) replied politely and endearingly.

“Oh no, not this time! In fact I was just wondering whether Harry wanted to come to the park.” The adolescent gawped at him with the same astonishment that was being radiated by his mother down the hallway. Just a week ago he’d ventured outside for the first time in months and now his neighbour was randomly suggesting a whole outing!

* 

“Yeah, he was telling me how he’d never played football before so I thought I could teach him, maybe. I’m kinda nifty with a ball myself.” Once the shock had worn off Harry couldn’t help but think it sounded like an excellent plan to get them out of the house and away from his mother.

“That’s right, mum,” he began, careful not to tell lies which would inevitably jam the flow of his words. “Louis’ rather brilliant at it!” ‘It’ being kissing, he thought to himself, before stopping as a blush started to rise to his cheeks. Anne looked at him for a moment as though weighing up the situation in her head before smiling once again and taking a few steps towards them.

“Of course, love,” she said brightly, gesturing towards the door. “It will be nice for you to get some fresh air for once! And I’m sure Louis will be a good teacher.” At this she reached out to lay an arm on the older boy’s bare forearm – the weather was still unusually mild for the time of year – and he inadvertently jumped backwards into the doorway at the touch, his aversion to skin contact returning. The lady frowned a little but chose to ignore it, instead sending them on their way with a wave to her son and the new friend she was so pleased he had found. Harry let the matter lie too as they walked the relatively short distance to the park nearby in comfortable silence, but in his head he kept wondering exactly what it was that caused the tanned young man to behave the way he did. It was only once they’d reached the large expanse of grass and his neighbour had tried rather miserably to teach him the basics of the beautiful game that he dared to broach the subject. They lay together, side by side, on the grass, almost but not quite touching, and he could feel the moment like it was palpable.

* 

“Lou?” he whispered hesitantly, unsure what the other boy’s reaction would be to his question and not wanting to break the delicate silence.

“Mmmm?” his friend hummed in reply and Harry summoned up all his courage to ask the one question he’d been dying to know the answer too but was afraid might be taboo.

“Why don’t you like people touching you?”

“Because I’m not a slut!” The answer came back lightning sharp, followed by a small, harsh laugh but he couldn’t join in. It felt like he’d been rehearsing the line in his head for a long time and it had become a reflex action to the undoubtedly probing question. An uncomfortable quiet stretched on for another minute or so until suddenly the tanned young man turned to him so they were face to face, wearing the most serious expression the younger lad had ever seen. “Do you really want to know?” Ever so slowly he nodded gravely and Louis sighed in what appeared to be resignation. “OK then, I’ll tell you. It’s a good job you’re laying back though because it’s a pretty long story!” And so he began to speak…


	11. Prying Eyes Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

Louis didn’t know why he felt so shocked that Harry had actually asked the question he’d been dreading. After all, not everyone shrugged things off as easily as Niall had done and it was still as surprising to him as it was to the other boy that kissing him had none of the effects that other people’s touch did. He though he’d pretty much accepted that at some time he would have to tell his story to him; he just hadn’t expected it to come so soon. Over the past week whenever the two of them had talked it had been mainly him asking the questions and the younger man answering them, whereas now it was time for the roles to be reversed. Taking another deep breath he began.

*

“When I was 2, my mum got pregnant. I was so excited when I found out – I’d never liked being an only child and I couldn’t wait for my new brother to be born. And my parents seemed really happy too, for a while at least, but then… Well, they never told me she was ill.” Louis could hear his voice beginning to wobble, so he stopped for a minute to swallow down the lump in his throat. Whenever cried if he could help it, and doing so in front of Harry would be even worse. “But she was – ill, I mean. I don’t know what was wrong with her because Liam doesn’t like to talk about it, but just before my third birthday she went into hospital and she… She never came out.” He dragged a hand across his eyes to wipe away the tears which were threatening to spill out of his blue orbs. “I never got a brother,” he whispered into the almost mockingly sunny morning, so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear. For a moment he felt terribly alone until suddenly there was another human presence dragging him back away from his painful memories. He wasn’t sure when Harry had gone from lying on the grass to sitting right next to him, but the arm the younger boy stretched around his shoulders was oddly comforting considering his aversion to touch.

“I’m so sorry, Lou,” he whispered and his companion couldn’t help but smile at the use of his nickname despite the serious situation. “I had no idea.” There was silence for a moment as he hugged him even closer before speaking again. “Is… is that why you don’t like being touched then? Because of your mum’s death?” The tanned young man didn’t think he’d ever been more tempted to say ‘yes’ in his life. He would so love just to pretend there was nothing more to his decidedly painful back-story than that! But there was no way he could lie so blatantly to his friend like that; it wasn’t fair to tell such an obvious mistruth to the oblivious adolescent.

* 

“No. That’s not it.” The younger boy could hear the seriousness behind his voice and didn’t say anything in order to let him continue with his tale. “When mum died, Liam –”

“Why do you always call him Liam?” Harry wasn’t the type to interrupt people but the question had clearly been lurking at the back of his mind for a while now. “What do you mean?” asked Louis, confused, keen not to get back to his narrative.

“You never call Liam ‘dad’ or anything like that. It’s always his first name! Why is that?” He weighed up the question in his mind as he tried to think of an answer that would make sense not only to the other adolescent but to himself as well.

“I suppose he just doesn’t feel like my dad sometimes because of what he did, although I know it wasn’t his fault but it felt like it.” Realising he was rambling he quickly shut up and allowed his friend to respond.

“What did he do?” the latter asked, his voice full of curiosity, forcing the youth newt to him to continue.

* 

“Well, when she died he just couldn’t cope – he went a bit off the rails without her, you know? I didn’t know what was going on because I was so young, but he had to get therapy and I went into care.” He glanced over at the other teen to see if this was at all shocking to him but he was merely wearing his usual yet interested look. “I was sent to a ‘home’ – though it wasn’t anything like one – and I had to stay there for a year Liam didn’t come for me and I hated him for it!” Breathing slowly to calm himself down, Louis realised he’d better stop blathering on if he wanted to have finished by evening. “I met this boy there, however, called John, and he was my only friend. He was much older but we got on really well and I missed him a lot when Liam got better and I had to leave. Then when I got older I tried to forget about care so I could move on, until eventually I almost couldn’t remember his name. I was out and about in Doncaster when I saw him for the first time in years. He looked exactly the same though: he’d not lost his puppy fat and he still had the darkest eyes I’d ever seen. I was just going to walk past - I wanted to forget everything about the children’s home, after all - but he recognised me and said hi. We got chatting and he seemed as nice as I remembered and I… I said I’d meet up with him some time.” He paused for a moment, trying to recollect the memories exactly in his head so that he could tell Harry a factually accurate description of events rather that a heap of jumbled words which were on the tip of his tongue.

“What happened Louis?” asked the curly haired teenager softly, taking his silence for unwillingness to continue. His friend couldn’t look him in the eye as he revealed the true reason behind his strange behaviour.

* 

“We met up one Friday evening at a McDonalds: I was 16 and he was 20 so it was a bit weird and I could tell after a few minutes that our friendship wasn’t going to work out this time. But he bought me alcohol so I thought it would be fun to get drunk so he could see I wasn’t just a kid any more. He still seemed nice enough and he helped me to the bus stop because I was so wasted but then…” He was grateful for Harry’s presence then, his warm body serving as an anchor to keep him from drowning in the traumatic memories that were starting to flood his mind. “He didn’t take me to the stop, he dragged me back behind some buildings and I tried to tell him to stop but he just wouldn’t! No one came when I screamed and he said he’d kill me if I made another noise,” the other boy pulled him even closer subconsciously, his protective instincts clearly kicking in. “Every time I close my eyes I see him about to do it to me.” There was no need for him to clarify what he meant for it was painfully obvious, even to someone who’d led such a sheltered life as the boy next to him.

“I’m so sorry, Lou,” he whispered, but the older lad wasn’t listening any more.

“I have nightmares every night about it – well I did.” He froze as a sudden realisation came to him, causing his friend to stiffen too. “I had dreams about him until…” Here he turned to the 14 year old beside him with newfound clarity and lack of anxiety in his eyes. “Until I saw you.”

* 

This time when they kissed it felt a lot more natural than it had before, probably because Louis wasn’t exactly certain when it had even begun. All he could tell was that one moment he was having an epiphany as to the real effects that Harry was somehow having on him and the next their lips were locked together in a deeply emotional yet gently understanding embrace. Despite their less-than-platonic relationship having only lasted a week he already felt as though he knew the other boy’s mouth as well as he knew his own: as their kisses had become deeper he had explored what seemed like every crevice of it with his tongue but just then the moment was too delicate for them to begin eating each other’s faces off like most couples his age. Instead they simply moved their lips together amorously while the younger teen appeared to be trying to kiss away his previous fear, anxiety and resentment. And although he wasn’t expecting it, his companion honestly did begin to feel lighter as he realised that not only had he managed to reveal everything about his life that he’d presumed would send the other boy running for the hills but also because he knew there was more to it than that. He wasn’t sure quite how or why but it appeared that not only had he found someone he was desperately in love with but also someone who might be the answer to his emotional and psychological problems too. Perhaps their situation was unusual or frowned upon by society – none of that mattered when they were together! When they eventually broke apart he sensed a new level of understanding had come between them, which Harry managed to sum up in his usual eloquent manner.

“This – whatever we are – it isn’t just kissing, is it?” The Louis looked at him seriously, uncertain whether he wanted to admit how deeply he had grown to feel about the other teenager. For as much as his interest had started off as mere fascination, he was now certain that the bond between them was much deeper and more complex than they could ever have imagined before meeting one another. Sighing inwardly he decided it would be best to tell the truth since he had already been so candid during the rest of their (mostly one-sided) conversation.

* 

“No, it’s not.” They sat there for a while in awkwardly beautiful silence as what the 17 year old had just said began to sink in. He’d known ever since their first embrace that their relationship was complicated and possibly indescribable, but it was only then, as they sat side by side overlooking the rolling fields, that he started to search for an explanation for it all.

“Are we, um, together then?” He seemed a little more embarrassed to be asking this question, but Louis had been expecting it to come.

“I’m not sure… I guess so.” Gently, he put an arm around what he supposed was now his boyfriend’s neck. “I’d most definitely like it to be.” At that Harry seemed to relax into their embrace, leaning his head cautiously on the slightly taller youth’s shoulder as though scared he might break him, before stiffening as a sudden thought came to him.

“But does this make us gay?” he asked fearfully. The blue eyes boy thought for a minute then shrugged and nodded at the same time.

“I suppose it does for me – I mean, I’ve never found girls attractive anyway! I can’t speak for you though. Maybe you’re gay, maybe you’re just experimenting: either way it doesn’t matter because, well, I love you.” The last three words were merely whispered but the other young man was listening so carefully there was no way he could have missed it.

* 

Harry’s eyes lit up at the statement and his evident bliss at hearing it being spoken aloud was enough to convince Louis that what they were doing was the right thing.

“I love you too!” the younger boy enthused, his cheeks rosy with excitement, and his friend (or should that be, boyfriend?) couldn’t help but giggle at his adorable displays of excitement. Suddenly they were kissing again which might have led to a more passionate embrace if it wasn’t for a woman walking her dog who suddenly appeared from out of the woods nearby, forcing them to jump apart with guilty smiles on their faces. After she had passed by the moment was clearly over but the happiness was still yet to leave their faces. Although he still couldn’t believe he’d actually let himself tell another person that he felt so strongly towards them, the young adult found it was impossible to wipe the grin off his face.

“How do you know about being gay, anyway?” he asked curiously after a few seconds of peaceful silence. “I thought you said that home-schooling had never taught you anything about relationships.” To his surprise Harry began to colour and turned way slightly, embarrassed.

“I… um, it came up when I was researching Richard I and so I, er, Googled it.”

* 

Louis couldn’t hide the smile in his voice as he realised where the story was going.

“You didn’t go on images, did you?” Harry’s highly embarrassed expression said everything needed to answer his question and his partner’s laughter cut over the top of his protestations and excuses.

“I didn’t know what I was going to see; I had no safe search on!” The older teen patted him on the shoulder to let him know he wasn’t judging him while internally he was reeling from the fact he had gone from almost crying to laughing in less than 10 minutes.

“Well I suppose that’s why e-safety rally does count, eh?” Even the curly haired boy had to laugh at that before posing a query of his own.

“So what do we do now?”

“What do you mean?” asked Louis, glancing back at his boyfriend (although it was still strange to be able to think of each other like that) with confusion.

* 

“Well, do we tell our parents about it all? I mean, I’ve never even had any friends before – my mum will probably get a bit suspicious if I suddenly start spending all my time with you!” The question was clearly a relatively serious one but Louis’ heart skipped a beat at the thought of going on dates together, introducing Harry to his friends… he knew he was jumping ahead a bit but the rush of blood to the head that was first love had well and truly consumed him. Then he remembered the other lad was waiting for answer and spoke up once again.

“I think you need to be put through that most ancient of relationship rituals,” he joked, standing up and reaching a hand out towards his companion. “Meeting the parents! Or in this case, parent.” The adolescent took his proffered limb, letting himself be pulled up, then looked deep into the cerulean eyes opposite him.

“Really? You want me to meet Liam?” Anticipation and happiness were obvious in his voice as he bit his lip in a manner that was so cute Louis just wanted to kiss him there and then. However he just nodded, prompting them to set off walking back home hand in hand, all his normal anxieties at being in public and contact with others now gone.

* 

_Liam wasn’t sure quite how Zayn had ended up in his kitchen on a Saturday afternoon snogging him. As the reality of the situation began to sink in he decided there were two things that were almost certainly wrong with it: firstly that he, an until recently utterly heterosexual 40 year old father, was kissing a 22 year old student when neither of them were under the influence. It was by no means their first embrace, but all the rest had involved a rather significant amount of drinking involved on the much younger man’s part. Now there was no way of using that as an excuse. And he wasn’t even going to start on the ‘until recently heterosexual’ side of things. The second, more immediate, problem was that they also weren’t in the hipster filled bar or modern club which had served as the venues for their first dates and where he was unlikely to meet anyone he knew this time, but instead happened to be in the middle of his house which should have seems more private but in fact felt ridiculously public. As they came up for air once again his partner was smiling and he did his best to quell his doubts and return the expression. After all, what was the worst thing that could happen right then?_

_*_

_“Liam?” the voice rang through the house with dreadful clarity and the tall man felt his stomach drop like he had been waiting at the top of a rollercoaster and had finally gone over. His eyes snapped open to see Zayn’s own orbs twinkling with amusement – for a moment he wondered what could possibly be funny about their situation but then he realised that the student though that the person who’d walked through the front door was his lodger rather than his son. He tore his lips away from what he supposed was his boyfriend’s mouth as quickly as possible in the hope that Louis simply hadn’t…_

_“Dad?” If his hands hadn’t been still incriminatingly placed at the other man’s waist he would have buried his head in them. Flushing scarlet, he moved himself even further from the tanned youth and felt like the worst human being in the world as he registered the hurt and disbelief on his child’s face. The teenager was stood in the doorway next to a boy he’d never seen before and the former’s mouth was practically gaping open in astonishment._

_“I can explain,” he stuttered but the truth stabbed through his brain like a knife._ No you can’t


	12. Prying Eyes Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

There was an almost blissful smile on Harry’s face as he entered the door to number 15 and not just because he was finally being granted access to the Louis’ house. Ever since the older boy had revealed his dark secret he felt as though the two of them were closer than ever before, which made the usually rather socially inept youth feel unusually special and wanted. However as the two teenagers made their way down the beige hallway the adolescent felt a sense of unease in the pit of his stomach which made the grin droop a little. He didn’t know what it was that seemed off about the situation but his gut instinct was screaming at him that there was something wrong just as his companion pushed open the door to one of the several rooms leading off from the corridor. He swore that time slowed down the moment they entered the kitchen and took in the sight in front of them. For a moment he was transfixed, staring at the tall brunette who he guessed was his friend’s father passionately kissing the raven haired stranger, but then he heard his companion’s cry of ‘Dad!’ and he remembered where he was. Immediately Liam leapt backwards so that the two boys could see the unexpected visitor more clearly - he had a tanned, angular face with deep brown eyes that were filled with a mixture of shock, confusion and something bordering on disgust.

“What the hell are you doing?” It wasn’t clear who this question was directly aimed at because Louis was looking between both men as he said it, his face a picture of pure surprise and deep anger.

“I can explain…” his father started with a gulp that made it clear he really couldn’t.

“Oh yeah? Well I’d love to hear you try, _dad_!”

*

It was all getting a bit too much for Harry - arguments weren’t a common occurrence in his household and it was rather scary to see his usually cool and collected friend filled with poorly disguised rage. Hoping none of the others in the kitchen would notice his departure the young man attempted to slip away down the hall but knew he’d been caught out when he found himself staring into the blue eyes of his neighbour.

“Please,” the latter stuttered, so distraught the words almost got caught in his throat before being dropped into the room in front of the 14 year old. “Please don’t go.”It was a case of total role reversal for Louis to be the one begging the other teen to stay but, really, how could he refuse a plea that he identified with so much, especially when it came from the boy he now was fairly certain he loved?

“It’s OK, I won’t, I promise.” Grasping the older boy’s hand reassuringly, he smiled up at him to convey the fact that he was going nowhere if his partner didn’t want him to. The look of relief that passed over the latter’s face was enough to convince him that he was doing the right thing - for a moment they were caught in their own little bubble once again before the two of them remembered the reason for Louis’ anxiety almost simultaneously and quickly turned back to a beetroot red Liam and the much younger man who had backed so far into the corner of the kitchen he was practically through the wall.

*

“Th-this is your son?” he stuttered, glaring accusatorially at the man who just a few moments ago he’d been kissing passionately. However the 40 year old seemed unable to reply as he burned a deeper shade of red whereas his child flared up at the comment and spat an acidic remark at the raven headed twentysomething who Harry didn’t recognise at all but his friend clearly did.

“I think the question we should be asking is what the hell are you doing here, _Mr Malik_?” His father gasped, finding his voice one again, as he realised what he’d been missing.

“M-Mr Malik?” Now Liam’s face had gone from red to ashen pale while he turned to the aforementioned male. “You’re his form tutor?”

“You’re his father?” If it hadn’t have been for the circumstances the exchange might have been amusing but as it was the younger boy could only look on with disbelief as they realised the truth. Louis was looking from side to side at each of the men, seemingly unsure who to be angrier at. Eventually the anger built up inside of him to the extent that he just let words inside him fly out and aim themselves at the first target they could find, which happened to be his teacher.

“So you’ve just been kissing him without even knowing anything about him? How old are you? He’s 40, you sick…” Thankfully Harry knew to stop him then so put an arm around his friend’s shoulder to quieten him and he could feel from the older teen’s quivering shoulders that his neighbour was actually a lot less confident with the situation than he was making out.

“It’s alright,” the younger teenager whispered in his ear while Zayn and Liam continued spluttering out replies to each other before eventually the former clearly decided this was all too much, reached for the back door and escaped from the room as fast as he could.

*

Once he’d left the remaining man turned to his child with a face like thunder.

“How could you do that to me?” If Louis had been angry before then it was nothing compared to the heat that burned in his eyes then as his voice rose an octave and several hundred decibels during his reply.

“Me? What exactly have I done except ask an unwanted guest to leave?”

“Unwanted?” Strangely enough Liam seemed less aggravated by his son’s description than upset - his voice wobbled a little on the last syllable, giving away the hurt that the words had obviously caused him. “In case you’ve forgotten this is my house and I certainly didn’t want Zayn to leave, but now thanks to your ridiculous, childish behaviour he has done. Are you proud of that?” Harry was shocked by the fiery nature of the father and son’s rapidly paced argument but the older boy appeared undeterred as he shot back an equally caustic response.

“Well I’m sorry that my behaviour made your ‘friend’ leave when he seemed so keen to stay here,” his voice dripped sarcasm thicker than mud. “But unsurprisingly I was a bit surprised to come home and find my dad eating the fucking face off my form tutor!” Having almost never heard Louis swear before, the young teen was quite surprised at his language, however Liam was more concerned by his offspring’s sentiment.

“Since when has it been any business of yours who I… spend my time with?”

*

Although he knew it was wrong Harry couldn’t help but be fascinated by the argument: the dynamics of the two men’s relationship; the relentless back-and-forth nature of the exchange; the chatter of the deliberately harmful words like bullets and just as deadly. Louis’ next sentence was definitely below the belt and it elicited the largest reaction from his father thus far.

“I’d say it became my business when I realised you never bothered to tell me you were in the closet!” Clearly despite his previous actions Liam didn’t take kindly to being accused of having homosexual tendencies and for the first time that afternoon his mature front slipped to reveal the boiling rage and desperate panic he was feeling underneath.

“I am not in the closet, Lou! And even if I was… gay, what about you and - ” here he gestured towards the curly haired boy who was still holding comfortingly onto his partner’s hand subconsciously, ” - whoever this is?”

“I’m Harry,” he muttered before a viciously angry sounding Louis cut over his stuttered words with an outburst that (although it was clearly meant well) made the younger lad’s blood run cold.

“You leave Hazza out of this! Besides, we’re just friends anyway.” Heart plummeting at the statement the adolescent finally dropped his hand and took a step backwards with the sentence still running through his head. _We’re just friends anyway. Just friends. Friends_. Never since his childhood torment had one single word been able to cause him so much pain. It burned in his brain and behind his eyes as he began to back down the hallway.

*

Louis realised the consequences of his words almost immediately - instantly forgetting his argument with his father, he went after Harry in an attempt to rectify the situation.

“I didn’t mean it, Haz, I’m sorry, I take it back!” The younger teen wasn’t sure how to respond when his mind was still reeling from the boy he was now certain he was in love with completely denying their relationship. Hadn’t the whole point of visiting Liam in the first place, before they’d walked in on the unprecedented scenario, been to ‘come out’ to Liam as a couple? While apologies spilled from the blue eyed young man’s mouth he seemed to grow more fragile than he’d allowed himself to be during the argument, which wasn’t helped by his father yelling from the kitchen.

“You can’t just away, Louis! We haven’t finished our conversation by a long chalk!” Steeling himself to respond with something sassy and impetuous, his son suddenly didn’t seem to have it in him as he sighed in reply.

“Dad, I’m going. I’ll spend the night at Harry’s.” Here he glanced over at the boy a few metres away from him as though to check he wasn’t being too bold by inviting himself around. But his neighbour simply nodded before putting a calming arm around the other teenager’s shoulders and helping him down the hallway and out of the front door, leaving a privately thankful Liam still in the house.

*

The moment they stepped outside and into the street that was lit by the afternoon sun Louis’ barriers began to break down. For all his attitude in front of Liam and Zayn it was obvious he was still in shock from the events of what had been a rollercoaster ride of a day, so the ever empathetic Harry knew better than to hurry him along. Instead he took his friend in a tight consoling hug as the tears began to fall from his cerulean eyes in a manner that made it clear he would never let go if necessary. This seemed to comfort the older boy somewhat; once his violent sobs began to dry out he allowed the 14 year old to guide him across the road and toward number 14 where the door was opened almost instantly by Anne. Although she had obviously seen the whole display through the living room window, like her son she could tell that there was no way Louis would be able to talk in coherent sentences at that time, let alone explain what had happened. Having led them through to the kitchen she decided it would be best to leave them there to talk things through around the small wooden table that stood in the centre of the room. Harry felt immensely grateful to have such an understanding mother but there was no time to thank her when the young man sat opposite him looked to be on the verge of another breakdown.

*

“Louis, look at me.” Despite it being a command of sorts he delivered the words in the softest tone of voice he could manage so as not to make his friend feel threatened. The older lad complied and as their eyes met there was clear desperation in his orbs that made Harry feel strangely determined to comfort him. “Listen, Lou, it’s all going to be OK.” For the first time since leaving his house the tanned teen spoke, though his words were twisted and clearly hard to get out.

“B -but Liam, Zayn - he, they - I mean…” Biting his lip to stop himself from crying again he looked back down at the tabletop while the younger man tried to think of a suitable response. While he was wondering what on earth he could say that would calm his neighbour down he instinctively reached across the table and covered Louis’ hand with his significantly larger one before squeezing it comfortingly.

“Well, I’m not surprised you were shocked,” choosing to ignore the other lad’s flinch he continued with a newfound confidence, “but is that so bad? After all I, I am.” By the time he’d finished the statement Harry’s voice was so low even the boy opposite him could barely hear it but there was no way he was letting his mother hear what he’d just said. The two teenagers had discussed their sexuality at the park and Louis had pretty much admitted to liking guys but this was the first time he himself had dared to admit aloud that he definitely felt attracted to other boys. And by other boys he meant Louis.

*

The older teen took a minute to reply, however when he did his voice was less stilted, more confident.

“Yeah, me too.” It probably wasn’t an appropriate time but Harry couldn’t stop his heart from leaping when he heard Louis’ confession once again, however the next question brought him back down to earth with a bump. “But what about my mum? Does that mean he didn’t love her?”

“Well… maybe he likes men and women,” what with his lack of world experience- he wasn’t sure if this was a fanciful notion that he’d thought of on the spot. “I mean, is that possible?” Laughter wasn’t exactly the reaction he’d been expecting but it made him feel weirdly warm and fuzzy inside when the giggles escaped from his friend’s mouth.

“Yeah, it’s possible, Haz. It’s called being bisexual.” From anyone else it might have sounded patronising yet the adolescent knew there was nothing malicious behind the other boy’s statement and began to laugh along until they were both chuckling for no apparent reason except it was a much needed bit of light relief for them. When they finally recovered their composure Louis wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, then shot Harry a genuine smile. “OK then, so my dad’s bi.” The atmosphere became instantly more serious, meaning the younger man’s reply was tentative to say the least.

“Does that bother you?” After a moment of silence his neighbour looked deep into his emerald eyes and smiled again.

“No. I don’t think it does.”

*

They looked at each other with understanding before something clearly struck Louis and his smile dropped.

“I’m not so sure about Mr Malik though.” It took Harry a second to realise who the other boy was talking about but when he did he could almost feel his embarrassment.

“Mr - oh you mean the guy your dad was… Zayn, was he called? Yeah that’s got to be awkward.” Seemingly grateful that someone understood his position the 17 year old nodded emphatically and was determined to be more descriptive in his own defence when the young man opposite continued by saying, “But it wasn’t that bad was it?”

“I almost called him a cunt, Harry, that’s pretty bad!” Their eyes met again and the adolescent had to bite his lip to stop himself from giggling again at the statement. “Don’t you dare laugh!” warned Louis but already he was trying to suppress the cheeky smile on his face. They didn’t end up full out laughing that time however it seemed to lighten the mood again as the blue eyed youth shook his head with a grin. “OK maybe it’s not as bad as all that. I mean, I suppose my dad can kiss whoever he wants as long as he lets me do the same.” His sentence was a clear invitation that his friend readily took as he leaned over the table to peck him on the lips. It wasn’t much but it was clearly a comfort to the other lad along with his neighbour’s next words.

“Even if he didn’t like it I wouldn’t let him stop us.” Obviously there was no way Harry would stand a chance against Liam but his sentiment was honest which made Louis smile again. Something he seemed to do a lot more when the younger boy was around.

*

For the next few hours they remained there in the kitchen talking about everything and nothing, not even realising the amount of time that was passing them by. When Harry looked up and out of the window for the first time he was shocked to see that the sun was setting and it was only then that he remembered Louis was supposed to be staying the night.

“We should probably tell mum about you stopping over,” he broke the comfortable silence that had fallen over the two of them but the other boy simply nodded in compliance before allowing his friend to grab his hand and pull him up until they were both standing. It was a little nerve-wracking for the adolescent to make his way into the living room knowing he had to ask his mother if the person he was in love with could spend the night with him. However Anne simply grinned when she saw her son with his new companion and readily agreed to their suggestion, even offering to get the spare mattress out herself, which he quickly dissuaded her from doing. “No, no, it’s fine mum, you don’t have to bother. We’ll just share my bed.”

“Yeah,” interrupted the older teen with a slight cheeky grin which was explained by his next statement. “I mean, we’re both boys after all!” Struggling to keep a straight face, Harry nodded; his mother couldn’t be bothered objecting so just let him and Louis pick a film from the shelf and retire to the former’s bedroom to watch it in peace. The older lad was significantly impressed by the fact his friend had a TV in his room, but the movie was soon forgotten after they put the disk in and flopped down on the double bed which was clearly plenty big enough to accommodate them both that night. By the time the credits rolled up the screen a rather tired 14 year old was resting his head in his neighbour’s lap while the other teen played with his hair adoringly.

*

They only realised the film was over when the disk came out of its own accord with a whirring noise and Harry heaved himself up to go and retrieve it. Yawning profusely as he slid it into the plastic case, he noticed Louis was smiling strangely but the older youth blushed when he questioned him on it.

“It’s nothing – just, you look really cute when you do that.”

“When I put DVD’s away?” his privately delighted friend asked with mock ignorance before receiving a pillow in his face for his trouble.

“No, although you do look cute pretty much all the time anyway!” Now the both of them has flushed red so he quickly changed the subject, worried that he’d overstepped the boundaries of their relationship. “Are you tired though, Haz?” The second large yawn that escaped from the curly haired boy’s mouth was answer enough; chuckling lightly his friend stretched out on the bed while he realised that he too was feeling drowsy.

“I suppose we should get changed,” the young teen muttered a little embarrassedly despite his usual nonchalance about nudity. “Should I turn away, or…?”

“Hazza,” laughing again, Louis sat up on the bed to begin taking off his jacket that he’d neglected to remove earlier. “I think I’ve kissed you enough times for it to be OK that I see you getting ready for bed, yeah?” Immediately Harry’s worries were gone as he nodded in agreement and began to strip off everything but his boxers while the tanned young man did the same. Normally he wouldn’t have even bothered with his underwear but although sharing a bed with someone (a friend or otherwise) was previously unchartered territory for him he knew that going fully naked was probably crossing some barrier or other.

*

After they were both finished changing there was the slightly awkward problem of sleeping arrangements making itself the elephant in the room. Eventually Louis solved the problem by flopping himself down on the side of the bed near the wall and patting the mattress next to him to indicate that Harry should sleep there. The younger boy complied and for a moment they just lay there in silence, the light having been switched off since the beginning of the movie before his neighbour broke it.

“I really am sorry that I said we were just friends, Harry.” The younger boy stiffened for a moment as he realised the subject was being brought up again.

“It’s OK,” brushing it off quickly, he didn’t quite trust himself not to say the words that had been bursting to escape from his mouth all afternoon and evening. However as they stayed their he realised that if his friend had been brave enough to reveal his innermost thoughts that day then there was no excuse for him not to do the same thing on a much smaller scale. “Louis?”

“Yeah?” Summoning up all his courage he turned to the young man next to him with his most hopefully winning smile to disguise his utter terror about the question he was about to ask.

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

*

Partly he was expecting laughter again or a disgusted reaction at suggesting a change in the name (although not necessarily the nature) of their relationship, but instead a large genuine smile spread across his face that seemed to almost light up the room.

“I thought I already was, but yes, yes, a hundred times yes!” In all the time Harry had known his neighbour - which admittedly hadn’t been so very long - he’d never known the older lad seem so honestly joyful and for a moment he could imagine just staring at the beautiful face in front of him for eternity however then the two of them were kissing sweetly and gently and then a whole lot more passionately as the embrace became more intense. When they broke apart Louis’ eyes were sparkling with happiness that his now definite boyfriend imagined his own were reflecting back. “I, I honestly do love you,” the tanned boy whispered to him, making him grin more broadly than ever.

“Me too, Lou.” There was so much more to be said between the two of them but right then they were tired yet happy so settled for simply cuddling together under the duvet while the stars came out and the troubles of the day were forgotten.

*

When they woke up the next morning Harry couldn’t possibly think of a better first image of the day than his boyfriend’s muscular back encircled by his own pale arms. His boyfriend. Now didn’t that phrase sound amazing! Giving said boyfriend a playful poke in the side to rouse him, the adolescent proceeded to watch the frankly adorable display of Louis waking up.

“Morning, Lou,” he told him and was pleased that his partner seemed equally delighted to be next to him.

“Morning, Haz,” the older boy mimicked before sitting up, stretching and then planted a kiss on the other’s lips. “Or should I say, Shagileo Jiggalo?”

“Huh?” Confused he raised an eyebrow at the teen, who just giggled and explained.

“It’s from We Will Rock You. I’ll take you to see it some time.” Harry grinned once again at this as he realised what the connotations of this were.

“Like a date?” Smiling coyly Louis shrugged then dropped the pretence and nodded.

“Of course, Curly! Now can I smell pancakes?”

*

Originally the young teen wasn’t planning on letting his mother know about his and Louis’ relationship but as they sat around the dining room table playing footsie and gazing adoringly at each other it was too hard to try and disguise their feelings. Anne brought through their breakfast and after having laid it down she looked at them slightly confusedly before simply smiling at the two of them while they dug into the delicious food. Harry looked at her a couple of times during the meal but although he was too scared to catch her eye it was reassuring to him that she didn’t seem at all shocked and was instead shaking her head with a grin as though she couldn’t believe she hadn’t realised it before.

“I’m gonna talk to Liam today,” the older teen interrupted his boyfriend’s thoughts after they’d both finished eating. “You know, to sort things out.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” While he said this, the green eyed boy was rising from his seat along with his partner to leave the room however when they reached the door his mum called him back calmly. Shooting an apologetic look at his friend he made his way back over to the table while the other lad went to go collect his shoes from the hallway. “What is it?” he asked but Anne simply smiled until she was sure Louis was out of earshot – the reason why was explained by her next sentence.

“I think it’s lovely that you and Lou are happy together, honey, but I’m afraid I have to be the responsible parent and say I can’t have him or anyone else sharing a bed with you until you’re 16…”

*

“Mu-um!” Harry was clearly rather mortified and certainly didn’t try to hide it although his outburst was quiet enough so that it wouldn’t alert the attention of his boyfriend.

“Ha-rry!” This made him laugh, forgetting his embarrassment for a while at least, before she winked at him and took his hand with hers. “I am happy for you love.”

“I know,” responded her son with a smile that hadn’t left his face for much of the day and usually didn’t when he was around the older teen. “I – I love you mum.” For the first time during their exchange Anne’s eyes widened with shock as a disbelieving smile spread across her face; this was the first time in years she could remember being told those longed for words by her child and she knew immediately that something had changed within him to be able to tell her that.

“Well I don’t know what Louis’ got into you,” she replied eventually when she’d recovered the ability to speak. “But I certainly don’t want it to stop!” Just as the young man was about to reply he was interrupted by his partner who was now standing at the door slightly impatiently but with a sappy grin that appeared at the sight of the pale lad.

“Are you coming, Haz?”

“Yeah!” Harry called over his shoulder, then turned back to his mother once more. “Don’t worry,” he told her with unusual confidence. “It’s not going to.”


	13. Prying Eyes Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

Louis wasn’t sure what he’d done to deserve so much perfection in his life all at once. Not only had he managed to find a beautiful, kind-hearted, compassionate boy during one of the most desolate times in his life, but now said boy had kissed him multiple times, allowed him to sleep in his bed and agreed to become his boyfriend. So it was unsurprising what with usually terrible luck that one of the first things he was doing with Harry was nerve-wracking to say the least. When they reached number 15 he stood at the gate staring up at the house with poorly disguised panic on his face.

“I don’t think I can do this, Haz,” he confided in his boyfriend in a whisper that was so quiet the younger boy had to strain to hear what was being said before he wrapped an arm comfortingly around his waist.

“Yes you can, Lou, it’s going to be OK. All you have to do is apologise.” Although his slowly spoken words were a comfort to the other teen, they couldn’t disguise the fact that he would have to not only face his father’s ire when he entered the house but also apologise, which was not something he liked to make a habit of doing.

“How do you know it’s going to be fine?” he asked, staring deep into Harry’s emerald green eyes as though trying to find the answer to all his problems within them.

“Because I love you,” the younger boy replied simply as he stared back, hoping that Louis would be able to read the love and compassion he was trying to convey through his sparkling orbs.

*

Strangely hesitantly considering their previous exploits, his boyfriend leaned forwards to kiss him slowly and carefully like it was their first time all over again. It was a warm comforting embrace that lasted for several minutes and they refused to break even when it occurred to the older teen that his father might well be looking through one of the windows right then, in which case he would be well and truly busted. Eventually when they could tear themselves away from each other there was a slightly more confident smile on Louis’ face.

“OK, I believe you. It’s going to be fine.” Harry beamed back before mock pouting and crossing his arms across his chest as though annoyed.

“No, ‘I love you too’? I feel rejected!” Laughing, his boyfriend pecked him on the cheek then turned back towards the house with a catcall over his shoulder as he made his way up the path.

“You get an ‘I love you’ if it turns out you were right, babe!” However his confidence began to disintegrate as he got closer and closer to the building he’d been calling home for the past month or so.

*

Louis pushed the door open with shaking hands then sighed, told himself to man up and walked into the hallway with a feigned confidence.

“Dad!” thankfully his voice didn’t crack midway through his cry as it often did when he was anxious or embarrassed but before he had time to think of anything else his father ran down the stairs towards where the teenager was stood in the doorway and took him in a massive, body crushing hug that caused his son to freeze at first but then return the gesture. After a minute of them simply holding each other, Liam finally spoke.

“Louis,” he whispered into the much younger man’s feathery brown hair that tickled his face in a way that was strangely comforting while continuing to keep his arms wrapped around the boy’s back as though he would never let him go. “I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry!” It was only then that the 17 year old broke away from the unfamiliar embrace with his face a mask of confusion and gratitude, both emotions that he rarely let himself feel, let alone show.

“Sorry?” repeated the shorter man incredulously - if he’d been expecting anything it hadn’t been that! “Why are _you_ sorry?” Now it was his dad’s turn to look mystified by the other male’s statement so that they were both looking at each other confusedly.

*

“Because I was horrible to you yesterday of course!” Liam told his son incredulously, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“No,” objected Louis, still slightly sassy even when feeling more humble than ever before due to the middle aged man being so kind and understanding when he’d been expecting another screaming match at least. “ _I_ was the one who was horrible to _you_!” Once again they looked at each other, trying to work out what should come next, but the teenager knew there was one thing he needed to say desperately before it burned him up from the inside. “I’m sorry.” This simple yet heartfelt apology was too much for his father who could do nothing except hug him again to express all the emotions he’d been feeling over the past day but also during the months which had come before when the boy had refused to even be touched by his worried parent and he’d instead had to settle with just being there to offer constant support.

“I think we were both a bit horrible yesterday,” the brown eyed man muttered into Louis’ ear before they broke apart and the latter nodded, knowing that he was forgiven and hoping that Liam would be able to tell that he was too, even though in his opinion the taller guy had nothing to apologise for.

*

Finally he broke the slightly awkward silence that had fallen on the room as it occurred to him that he was unlikely to have a better opportunity in the near future to reveal the other slightly uncomfortable truth he’d been keeping under wraps.

“Dad, I’ve got something I need to tell you…” to the teenager’s surprise his father nodded and spoke over him.

“Yeah, me too.” For a moment they just faced each other before both taking a deep breath and revealing their secrets almost simultaneously.

“I’m gay.”

“I think I’m gay.” Under different circumstances their outbursts might have seemed comic but this was deadly serious. Liam was the first to finally say what they were both thinking about each other.

“Really? You’re sure?” Part of Louis was annoyed that his dad didn’t trust his judgement but he’d have been a hypocrite to say so for he was having exactly the same doubts himself at the other man’s declaration of his sexuality. So rather than putting forwards a sarky response he nodded calmly then proceeded with an explanation.

“Yeah, I’ve sort of known it for a while but I’m sure now because I’m, er,” despite the rambling sentences spewing from his mouth, his father’s comforting smile gave him the courage to reveal the final secret he’d been keeping. “I’m actually dating Harry – you know, the boy I was with yesterday?”

*

For a moment the 40 year old’s face screwed up in concentration as he tried to recollect who his son was talking about but then he remembered with a grin.

“Oh yes, Harry, he’s our neighbour isn’t he?” Suddenly he hesitated like he didn’t really want to say his next sentence. “Don’t you think he’s a bit young for you?” The irony of his statement kicked in soon after it had left his mouth yet instead of being at all angry at the hypocrisy the younger man.

“I don’t think you’re in much of a position to lecture me about that!” spluttered Louis and even Liam couldn’t help but laugh along at the ridiculous nature of everything that had happened to them over the last 24 hours.

“OK, maybe you’re right,” he admitted, hamming up the guilt in his voice for comic effect. However his son hadn’t forgotten his own questions during the small dissent into laughter and when he recovered his composure he turned back to the much older male with newfound sincerity.

“But what about you? Are you sure you’re gay too?”

*

The query wasn’t meant to be overly probing but Liam still blushed a little at the fact he was having to talk about this with his son. Being gay wasn’t embarrassing for him, but the compromising position he’d been caught in the day before was.

“Well, um, I don’t think Zayn would be very happy if I said I wasn’t!” Despite the attempts to keep the mood light and humorous Louis felt a lump build in his throat at the sentiment behind his dad’s words: he’d been hoping since his discussion with Harry over the kitchen table that the older man was indeed bisexual for one sole reason.

“But what about mum though? D - Didn’t you love her?” At his questions the other guy bit his lip, carefully weighing up his answer before daring to let himself reply.

“I did love her, Lou, of course I did! She was like my best friend and she meant the world to me, but I just don’t think I was ever, you know,” a blush rose in his cheeks again, “attracted to her.” The teenager wasn’t aware that his face had contorted a little at his father’s words but from the way the latter tried desperately to be understanding he realised that regardless of his issues with the relationship his teacher was having with his parent he had to at least act positive.

*

“Look I know it must seem a bit weird…”

“No,” he interrupted with unexpected conviction. “I get it. I really do. I, I’m happy that you’ve found someone.” And strangely enough as he spoke the words he’s expected to sound forced and stiff he found that he honestly didn’t mind. Yes, it was a bit strange to think about his form tutor – well, best not to think about that at all, however he wasn’t in much of a position to judge who his father chose to be with. Looking back, he couldn’t remember the last time Liam had looked as happy as when he talked about Zayn and surely he deserved some happiness too? This time it was Louis who instigated their hug without flinching one; the other man seemed shocked at first before returning the embrace with small tears of gratitude in his eyes.

“Thank you,” was all he could manage to say while they stayed with their arms around each other. “I can’t tell you how much this means –”

“Um, Lou?” It was all the youth could do to stop himself from laughing again at the way the moment had been slightly ruined by his oblivious boyfriend as he let go of his dad and turned to see the adolescent stood in the doorway.

*

“Yes Hazza?” asked Louis calmly but his partner had already begun to gabble.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realise you were still talking; it’s just that there was this guy with a parcel for you and I said I’d take it cos I was outside and…” By this point the older boy had made his way over to his partner and taken his hand partly to show his affection towards him but also partly to shut him up.

“Liam,” he cut over the adolescent by addressing his father with the confidence that the former’s presence always instilled in him. “This is my boyfriend, Harry.” They both beamed without realising when he spoke the penultimate word as they realised how good it felt to have their relationship cemented by a title. On the other hand, his dad had a strangely vacant expression on his face as he took in the 14 year old’s appearance.

“Hello?” enquired his son, waving a hand in front of the man’s face in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere and stop his partner from worrying, which made the tall male blink rapidly and snap out of whatever had come over him.

“Sorry, I was miles away there,” he smiled warmly and took a few steps towards them before reaching out an arm towards the younger teenager. “It’s good to meet you, Harry. You know,” here his eyes became a little dreamy one again before he pulled himself together, “you look an awful lot like Danielle.” Remembering his dream from a week ago, Louis’ eyes widened, then he shook his head as he realised that there was of course an obvious reason behind it. For years he’d been dreaming of what he most desired, the brother he’d never had, but now he had a new purpose in life to dream about – his boyfriend.

*

Later on they were sat side by side on the edge of the elder’s bed looking at each other adoringly as though they never wanted to stop.

“You know, I never thought I’d be able to love someone,” whispered Louis while continuing to stare into the green eyes that had captivated him at first sight and were now peering back at him with the same irrepressible curiosity that they’d displayed all those weeks ago. “Not after…” although he left the sentence hanging Harry didn’t need an explanation and instead nodded in understanding, unintentionally brushing his cheek against his boyfriend’s outstretched fingers which were then clasped carefully around his serenely smiling face as the contact was finally established.

“Me neither,” he confessed, making the older boy stop suddenly to glance up from where he’d been admiring the way their tanned and pale skin looked next to each other and back into his eyes with confusion.

“You? Why?”

*

The atmosphere was oddly reminiscent of the day before when the other teenager had been the one being questioned and made to reveal an undesirable truth to the person he loved, however this time the adolescent was less easy to crack and simply shrugged, feeling the mental barriers within him start erecting themselves as they always did when the subject of his significantly less traumatic but nonetheless formative childhood was raised.

“It’s a long story.” Clearly he was hoping that his partner would know to drop the topic but he’d forgotten that Louis could be just as determined as him, if not more so, and he wasn’t about to give up that easily.

“It’s a long day,” he quipped back almost instantly which Harry couldn’t help but laugh a little at.

“Haven’t you got anything else you’d rather spend the day doing than pester me?”

“No,” said the blue eyed youth in a suddenly more serious yet still somehow jokingly teasing tone. “I’d much rather spend it with you.” And it was that more than anything which persuaded the younger man to reveal his own tales of his childhood.

*

After just a minute he’d already decided that Louis was one of the world’s great listeners. The older lad paid attention to all that his boyfriend was saying, even though his slow steady tone of voice meant it took him a while, plus he knew when to nod and interject with a few words to encourage Harry to carry on. When the other boy told him about Niall he couldn’t help but gasp as he remembered his own school friend who matched the description to quite a spooky degree however when he was questioned on it he simply shrugged it off, certain it must simply have been a coincidence. Privately the younger teen was worried that his partner might laugh at the troubles of his youth which - in his head at least - paled into insignificance when compared to the secrets which had been revealed the day before, but despite the clearly rather sheltered life his neighbour had lived the tanned young man could see that the events he was recounting had made a clear impression on him from an early age and helped to explain some of his more unusual behaviour. By the time the story was done it had begun to rain outside: fierce, bucketing raindrops that seemed to have finally realised it was autumn so therefore dropped out of the sky with ten times their natural force. At some point during the recollections Louis had wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulders and now he rested his head on the one closest to him in a gesture that the latter clearly found comforting for he proceeded to lay his own mop of curls gently on top of his boyfriend’s head. They remained there for a minute or two, listening to the rhythmic hammering of the rain on the roof of the house before finally the slightly shorter (although he’d only realised this fact when they had begun to cuddle together) boy spoke.

*

“Thanks for telling me all that.” However his statement simply confused Harry who didn’t bother lifting his head but made it clear from his voice inflection that he didn’t understand.

“Thanks? It was just a silly story about why I’m such a freak!” Immediately Louis pulled him closer although he knew his boyfriend wasn’t pity seeking and moved his head a little so his nose was nuzzling the younger lad’s neck while he replied.

“You are not a freak, Haz, you’re perfect!” Feeling a blush begin to rise on the adolescent’s cheeks he continued. “It wasn’t a silly story, because it was about _you_ ,” here he looked up so that their faces were in front of one another. “And that makes it important.” This time when they kissed it was just as loving as before but the passion behind the gesture was more like their first embraces in that locked bedroom what felt like weeks but had actually been just a few days ago. Lips crashed together desperately, tongues roamed each other’s mouths as though searching for something, occasionally their teeth would clank as they continued their emotive exploration of everything that was finally theirs. Eventually they ended up with the older teen on top of the younger one (who wasn’t quite sure what was happening but was certainly enjoying it even so) while hands roamed down each other’s backs and sides almost subconsciously. The latter could feel something strange happening to him as they became more intimate but before he could say anything an all too familiar voice rang through the room.

*

“Lou, do you think you could - oh, Jesus!” The two teenagers sprang apart from each other a little to see Liam stood in the doorway carrying a pile of washing and looking as scandalised as they both felt. “Oh, um, it doesn’t matter,” the tall man stuttered, then recovered his composure enough to remember the parental duties. “And you’ve got to keep this door open, OK?” When he’d gone Louis looked over at Harry with a frankly horrified face that the other boy returned before they both snapped and collapsed into the mattress laughing.

“My dad,” spluttered the 17 year old in between peals, “the eternal cockblock!”

“What does that mean?” asked his boyfriend as his giggles subsided but his innocence made the older lad smile and he kissed him playfully on the nose.

“You’ve got so much to learn, Curly.”

“I know,” surprisingly the usually under-confident youth managed a cheeky smile at this point. “It’s a good job I’ve got such a great teacher!” And with that they rolled off of the bed to make their way downstairs and begin living their life proper as a young, loved up couple like any other.

*

_Liam stood in front of the door to the flat holding a bottle of wine and a box of chocolates and feeling frankly terrified. If it had been down to him then he wouldn’t have had the guts to visit Zayn for at least another day or two, but when Louis had asked him about the state of their relationship and found out he hadn’t even rung the younger man the night before his son had insisted that he went and made amends immediately – well, immediately after stopping off to buy some gifts which would hopefully at least serve as an apology of some sort if, as he was expecting, the student was less than pleased to see him. He’d actually been standing there for about a minute, trying to summon up the courage to knock but it was only then that in a moment of courage he dared to rap his fist on the door three times before stepping back to contemplate what on earth he was doing until it was finally opened. Zayn looked rough, with deep bags under his slightly bloodshot eyes and his hair sticking up everywhere as though he’d just got out of bed, which (judging from the pair of boxers and nothing else that he was wearing) he had._

_“Liam?” although his voice was hoarse and hung-over the surprise in it was obvious. “What are you doing here?”_

_*_

_If he hadn’t been so determined to return to being on good terms with the student and such a nice person in general the older man would have pointed out that it was actually quite clear from the peace offerings he was holding what the point of his visit was. Instead he smiled as best he could and took a step towards the unexpectedly tidy corridor as he replied with great sincerity._

_“I can see this isn’t a great time, but I need to tell you that I’m sorry for being a right arse to you yesterday. It was unfair and…” letting the sentence hang in thin air, he finally dared to look into the deep brown eyes in front of him and was caught by surprise at what he saw. Where he’d expected to find hostility there was instead compassion and understanding._

_“You came back.” This statement seemed to make the younger man incredible happy and although his visitor wasn’t sure why this was, he couldn’t help but grin as he was caught up in the joy of not having been told to fuck off, which he’d been pretty much expecting. “You came back!” Then they were kissing, which Liam hadn’t even dreamed would be the outcome of his trip, and there was something more behind the gesture than there had ever been before: an almost desperate but ultimately caring need to know and hold each other for as long as possible that had the both of them gasping for air when they resurfaced._

_*_

_The whole scenario seemed so unlikely to Liam that he felt compelled to pick some sort of hole in it, if only for the restoration of normality that it would bring about._

_“But what about Louis?” It was a sensible enough question – after all what 22 year old wants to date a single father with a teenage son after all? “Don’t you mind that I have a kid? Or that you teach him?” For a moment Zayn smiled jokingly before he realised that his guest was being serious and changed him expression instantly._

_“No, Li, of course not. None of that matters because I love you and that’s what’s important.” The older man’s face lit up at that but unfortunately he then began to gabble in his excitement._

_“You love me? Really? Because, you know…” his voice tailed off abruptly as Zayn took hold of the lapels of his jacket and pulled him into the hallway, slamming the door behind them with his foot._

_“Come here, you twat,” the younger guy laughed then pressed their lips together with more passion than before, but also with something else that was new or at least suddenly a whole lot more definite. Love._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last chapter! But there's still an epilogue to come :)


	14. Prying Eyes Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _When Louis moves into a new town he thinks everything will finally be stable in his life. The only thing he’s worried about is forgetting his past. But when a reclusive teenager develops a less than healthy obsession with him he knows that he’ll never be able to run far enough…_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is it. The end. Although technically if we’re going to be all Lemony Snicket about this it is only the beginning of the end because you haven’t read it yet. Or maybe the beginning of the end was the last chapter, in which case this is the beginning of the end of the end. Or sutin. Thank you so much for reading, I love you all so much and I really do hope you’ve enjoyed this fic even if it makes me cringe when I read it all back. Love to your mums <3<3<3

A week or so later Harry was stood outside the local high school while the last of the summer sunshine beat down, contrasting rather beautifully with the leaf strewn street. It was the first time he had ever ventured outside of the house on his own for as long as he could remember (discounting when the young girl had almost been run over a fortnight ago) and although he was determined to surprise Louis and prove to himself that he was finally working through his issues the whole experience was more than a little nerve-wracking. Luckily for him there weren’t many people about at twenty-five past three on a Friday but he knew when the bell was rung inside the building that would all change. He had to admit it felt like quite an achievement to have made his way all the way there, spurred on by the thought of his boyfriend’s delighted face when he saw him waiting by the gates, but the thought of suddenly being surrounded by so many unknown people was scary for someone so used to the confines of his bedroom and minimal contact with others. Just then as the clock struck 3.30 the signal was finally given to all the students within the building that their lessons were over at last. Having never been to a high school before he’d been quite innocently expecting the tolling of a hand bell but was instead surprised to hear the buzzing of an electronic bell that was quickly replaced by the hum of over a thousand pupils mutually celebrating the end of the school week and the start of the weekend. All of the almost identically dressed teenagers took a minute or so to navigate their way through the building before pouring out of it like ants from an anthill, chatting, laughing and generally enjoying the nice weather and the jubilation of home time. Slightly overwhelmed by the sheer number of pupils escaping from a multitude of doors and making their way noisily towards the gates, the young teenager decided to turn away and focus instead on the house across the road from him which was a lot less big and confusing than what was behind him.

*

After what seemed like ages he’d almost given up so he could pick up his boyfriend another day when suddenly his vision was obscured by a pair of hands covering his eyes and a voice whispering in his ear.

“Hey there, Hazza. What are you doing here?”

“Louis!” the young teen cried out, slightly from the shock of being jumped upon by his partner but mostly because he was so delighted to see him again even though they’d been apart for less than 24 hours. Every evening that week they had met up after school and spent almost all their time together: sometimes taking trips to the park where the other boy was attempting to teach him football or if either of them had massive amounts of homework then they would stay at each other’s houses and chat while getting it done – in fact Harry was actually rather good at helping Louis with his maths coursework, which he claimed was to make up for all the hours that his partner was wasting on trying to make him sporty. But whatever they were doing the truth was they just couldn’t bear to be away from each other. “I’m here to see you of course!” he told the older lad while trying to wrest his petite hands away from his face, which wasn’t that easy for the 17 year old was stronger than he looked and was seemingly determined not to let go.

“Well that’s great,” his tone was now less seductive than strangely anticipatory, making the curly haired youth feel as though he was missing something. “But I’ve got a surprise for you!”

*

It was always amusing to the younger man how his boyfriend could go from serious to acting like an excited 5 year old in mere seconds but instead of laughing he felt intrigued as he was spun around carefully (his eyes still completely covered up) until he could tell he was facing the school again. “Surprise!” yelled his partner, however the adolescent was too busy taking in the scene in front of him to hear him. Leaning against the gates was a pale blonde boy who seemed vaguely familiar and who was looking at him as though he couldn’t quite believe it. While Harry wracked his brains to try and think of who on earth it could be and why Louis would think that their meeting was such a special occasion, the young man straightened himself up to make his way towards him with the ever-present smile still lighting up his face. When he reached the confused teenager he held out a hand then laughed kindly when it took him a few seconds to realise he was supposed to shake it and did so with a small blush rising to his cheeks.

“Hiya Harry,” the youngest boy present was slightly shocked that his new companion knew his name but this faded instantly to amazement at the next words he heard. “It’s me, Niall. Do you remember me?”

*

Niall wasn’t sure what reaction he’d been expecting when he revealed who he was but it definitely hadn’t been Harry throwing himself at him and wrapping his arms around him in a massive friendly hug. However rather than feeling awkward about having been leapt upon by a 14 year old he returned the embrace with equal animosity before breaking away smiling.

“It’s good to see you too,” smiled the blonde boy in a way that wasn’t patronising but instead utterly delighted to have been met with such a positive response from his old friend who then began gabbling a little as all his questions attempted to escape from his mouth at the same time.

“Niall! But how – why, I mean when did you – are you, well, what?”

“I moved back here about a year back with dad,” explained Niall with that infectious giggle of his even at a time that could have been serious if it wasn’t for his grin. “I thought you must have forgotten all about me by now!” Then they hugged again until the older boy remembered his newer friend and gestured towards him. “I think Louis is getting jealous over there, Harry!” The young teenager’s face was glowing as he turned to his boyfriend but he tried to act annoyed, putting on a mock angry voice.

“You knew him but you didn’t bother to tell me? Honestly!”

*

Grinning at each other the couple hugged as well and then the three of them began to make their way side by side down the now almost empty street – most of the other pupils having already left the area a while ago – like a strange version of the Wizard of Oz. Harry and Niall chatted animatedly about what had happened to the two of them since they’d lost contact and how Louis had planned on surprising the younger boy that evening but it had almost backfired when he had shown up at the school himself.

“Hang on,” interrupted Louis suddenly as he realised something slightly odd about the whole scenario. “Did you come here all by yourself?” The question was directed at Harry who turned towards his boyfriend, blushing slightly, and nodded self-consciously proudly.

“I wanted to be able to pick you up for once,” he admitted, certain that it sounded utterly cliché but unable to stop the words before they left his mouth. However his partner smiled widely at the younger teen and even began to blush a little himself which Niall didn’t fail to notice and pick up on.

“Oh you’ve got him going red here!” winking at the adolescent, he ruffled the other 17 year old’s hair then laughed along with the youngest lad at the face the former pulled as he started patting his fringe back into place. Even Louis had to laugh at himself while he threaded his arm through Harry’s so they were walking side by side and he could whisper once again in his ear, this time with clear pride and adoration.

*

“Thank you so much for coming along on your own. I know how much that must mean to you.” Smiling a little embarrassedly the curly haired youth kept walking at the steady pace they’d all fallen into but turned so they were staring into each other’s eyes for the umpteenth time yet the sight never grew old. It was still amazing to him that he could be so close to the glimmering azure pools and what’s more that the love he felt for the older boy was reflected in those orbs. For him! As far as he was concerned he was unworthy of such a brilliant boyfriend but for as long as he had the other teen he was happy to simply bask in the happiness that just being together brought him. Realising that said brilliant boyfriend was awaiting an answer to his statement he nodded and said the first thing he could think of.

“It was worth it just to be with you for a bit longer.” In other circumstances he would have been almost ashamed by how cheesy he sounded however before he could apologise Louis was kissing him and he was kissing back, not caring at all that Niall was stood right next to them still smiling a little bemusedly. The embrace started off as fairly sweet and gentle but after two evenings in a row of hanging around at Harry’s house where Anne kept a keen eye on their behaviour there was a fair amount of unreleased passion between them which meant that it quickly became more heated with their hands buried in each other’s hair while their tongues battled for dominance. Eventually the Irish lad clearly decided he’d had enough for he pinched both of their sides so that the two lovers started away from each other in a knee-jerk reaction.

*

“Save it for the bedroom lovebirds!” he laughed as they all began walking again down the sun-dappled street towards the park; Louis wrapped an arm around Harry’s waist so they were connected once again and the latter knew without looking that his partner was beaming from ear to ear. For a moment Harry couldn’t think of the word to describe how he was feeling: it was like his body was being filled by a warm fuzzy sensation that unconsciously pulled his lips up into a smile and made him want to skip the rest away, except for the fact that it would look distinctly odd. Then the name for his emotions suddenly came to him. Bliss. Because right then after a lifetime of being an observer of other’s happiness he was finally living a little himself and it was perfect.


End file.
